Ingredients of a Breakthrough with Joe Corcione
Okay, let's just start by the story of how you got into running.
Joe Corcione:Oh, well, first of all, thank you for having me here. I'm so, so excited to be here, and you've been such a great friend and such a net positive on my life,
Alex Judd:and so
Joe Corcione:this is awesome.
Alex Judd:Man, that's, if you're gonna get a compliment, net positive is a good compliment.
Joe Corcione:No, 100%, like, maybe the net, the net is funny too. I always look at, like, any, anything in life, though, is like, are things net positive or are they net negative? Because, you know And I'm not to say that there was, like, negative stuff, but, like, I'll give an example. Like, even so, like, you know, we recently got a dog and he's awesome and he's amazing. And I mean, granted, net positive in my life, but sometimes there's challenges, right?
Joe Corcione:Like, I have to, unfortunately, have to leave a little earlier today to go check on him. Not saying that that's a bad thing, but, you know, when things are net positive, I think it's a good way to look at it because I think it's way better than just looking at life as always positive, because there's gonna be downtimes, and it's good to acknowledge that sometimes, but things are net positive as good. Not to say that I've had negative stuff with you, but I use that terminology a lot because even all the time, I tell my athletes, who I coach with running, it's like, if you have bad runs, you're gonna have them every once in a while, but on a net standpoint, is it going positive? And is your training a net positive? Because that also means that it's okay to have bad days, and it's okay to have things that are struggling, and it's okay every once in a while for it not to be perfect and not to be okay, so that's why I use that I
Alex Judd:love that. I am not at all surprised that you have thought processes behind the language that you're using in that too. Okay, so let's jump into it then. Tell me the story of how you got in to running.
Joe Corcione:The actual question you asked,
Alex Judd:yeah. So as
Joe Corcione:you can see, there's the tangent there too. Yeah, so, you know, I think I had a very untraditional kind of background with running too, and I love that because I think with running, you don't have to have extraordinarily athletic gifts or talents when born, and when I grew up, I had very much the mindset that you had to be born with those things, right? When I was in high school, and I would see, like, all of, like, my friends out there on the football team and just crushing it at varsity sports, like, my thought process was like, wow, it's like so awesome that they were born, like, athletic and born with all this stuff, and because for me, that was not the case. I was not born athletic. I mean, I didn't play any organized sports in high school except for golf, and that's arguably a sport, and I can say that because I play golf.
Joe Corcione:But that was the only organized sport I played because I was just always laughed at at every pickup game. You know, people would throw footballs to me because of the way that I, like, looked funny catching the football. Like, I was just not athletic, and I thought, well, because I wasn't born this way, I shouldn't even try. And that was the mindset that I had in my entire life. And one of those things included was, you know, growing up, I was diagnosed with ADHD because I was a super crazy kid in class all
Alex Judd:the time, and When you say crazy, what do you mean by that?
Joe Corcione:You know, I'd be in my kindergarten, I'd just, you know, the teacher would be teaching something, and I would just start screaming something out loud, I would take books, I'd throw them, I'd be very impulsive, just doing just a bunch of stuff. The first thought that would come to my mind, would act immediately, and be way more rambunctious than the other kids, and so my parents were like, Okay, this is clearly a problem. So then they took me to, you know, the doctor, got diagnosed ADHD, and I was put on Adderall. The reason why I bring that up is because I, it's that same belief that I had with the athleticism, is like, I was born with a different brain, and therefore, because I have ADHD, like, that's the way it's gonna be. I can't be someone who can be focused.
Joe Corcione:I can't be someone who can be less impulsive. But even from the Adderall perspective, was like, I I was born someone who can't be a functional person in society unless I take this drug. Wow. And that was the thing. And there was a bunch of other stacked beliefs that kinda happened with that too because I wasn't confident, and then I tried alcohol for the first time, but then the belief was, okay, wasn't born confident, so I might as well keep drinking so I can be confident.
Joe Corcione:And all of these beliefs was just this fixed mindset. And that's, I think, a belief or a thought process that a lot of people can have growing up. And whether it's society or anything, we're kinda taught, it's like, oh, if you're bad at math in school, maybe you shouldn't do things that are in math. Or, you're someone who's great at science, maybe you should pursue something in science. Right?
Joe Corcione:It's either you have it or you don't. And that was very much my belief systems. And you know, because of that, deep down inside, I thought I couldn't be the best person I could be without taking substances, Adderall, and then, you know, going to college, it was like cocaine and marijuana, and like a bunch of other different drugs, because I always had this deep rooted insecurity that I wasn't enough, and I could only be enough if I took some outside substance.
Alex Judd:So did you, at that time thank you for sharing that, first of all. Of course. At that time, did you know that that was what you were trying to solve for and going for those things? Like, I'm trying to be enough? Like, could you self identify as that, or was it more just like a impulsive pleasure seeking thing?
Joe Corcione:Yeah. Definitely had no, like, kinda thought that I was doing this to be that person. Like, I I had just this is all, like, a subconscious thing and very hindsight twenty twenty, and at the time, I was like, oh, you know, this is what I have to do to be where I wanna be in life. And because like, if you asked me at the time, I said, well, there's no other way. Like, there's no other way I could talk to girls if I'm not drunk.
Joe Corcione:There's no other way I could go for this career on Wall Street that I wanted to if I didn't take cocaine. Like, there was no way I could crush it at school and get these good grades to get a good job if I didn't take Adderall. And that was my belief. So if you asked me, I wasn't trying to mask that, but deep down it was because I had this insecurity in myself. Wow.
Joe Corcione:The only time that that became, or I should say the first time that it became really self evident was, you know, when whenever you make choices like that out of insecurity, you can probably get by in the short term, but in the long term, things will crumble and things will fall away. And so what started to happen was, you know, at the end of college, I got a job at Wall Street, a hedge fund, ended up not being with that job anymore. I had a girlfriend who I thought I was gonna marry for, you know, I was dating her for four or five years. She left me. I moved back in with my parents.
Joe Corcione:I didn't have much friends at the time. Like, everything just kinda fell apart. And so, I remember being in the floor of my childhood room, looking up at the ceiling, seeing all the pieces gone in my life, and realizing that that was all a product of me. And that's when I realized that something was wrong, and started to realize that there was probably something deeper behind this. And one of the big things that kinda came with that was kinda around the same time, I went to the doctors, because when you take Adderall, you have to go to the doctor to get a checkup to make sure everything's okay.
Alex Judd:Sure.
Joe Corcione:And the doctor was doing some tests and everything, and he was like, Hey, you know, you're 22 years old, you're an adult now, and, you know, around this time, we usually see people who have been taking Adderall since they were kids, like, be able to wean off as some function in society. And like, almost immediately as I said this, that anxiety thing, like, build up in me, and I said, No, no, no, I need to take it. And that in my head was like, Woah. Like, I remember being like, You're addicted to that. Like, that was an addictive response right there to not even being open to the idea of potentially weaning off this thing.
Joe Corcione:And then so that was kind of like the first crack, then being, you know, on that floor thinking these thoughts, like that was the time where I realized it was like something's going on. And I couldn't even self identify at the time, like I didn't know, I just knew something needed to change. And the thing that really helped me to kind of self identify that was, you know, just doing more research into like psychology and how beliefs are developed. And that's when, you know, I started to untangle some things and realized that it all just came from this deep seated insecurity of believing that I wasn't good enough and believing that I was born someone who wasn't good enough and I needed things. So to go back to the running stuff, where
Alex Judd:the Dude, skirt's all well, started okay, no, hold on. We'll get into, yeah, don't jump too far ahead too fast. It's such a fascinating story, Thank you. And I think one of the things that makes it so fascinating is, like, you're a friend. I I know you well.
Alex Judd:I've known you well for years now. And, like, I I did not know you at this stage of your life. Mhmm. It's just so wild to me, the transformation that it seems like you've undergone internally and externally to be the person that you are today. It's just wild because I'm like, I wish we could have a before Joe just so people could see how different it is.
Alex Judd:I mean, do you experience it that way? Has it been radical life transformation?
Joe Corcione:Oh, I mean, night and day. Like, because, you know, obviously, we'll get into the story and everything, but, like, if you told me that, like, right now, I mean, I'd be and I'm not saying this to brag, I'm more so saying this from, like, standpoint of comparison. Like, you know, I ran like 250 milers, a 100 milers, like, I coach people to run. If you had told that person on the floor that I'm doing all this right now, I would have like, been like, there is 0% chance. Like, there's no like, even from a standpoint of not even just being successful and happy, but more from a standpoint of, like, running.
Joe Corcione:Like, I was like, no way. Like, there's the like, 200 miles? Like, no way. And I thank you for that comment too, but, you know, I think that's kind of the whole ethos of, like, what I want to tell people all the time, is that who you are born does not define who you will be later in life. Mhmm.
Joe Corcione:And secondly, if you are unhappy with where you're at right now, that doesn't mean you can't change to be that person you wanna be. I truly believe that in life. You can be any person you want to be. You can be confident. You can be a business person.
Joe Corcione:You can be someone who's athletic. You can be someone who's a great family person. And even if you're not those things right now, that doesn't matter. What matters is, if you're willing to learn and put in the work along the way, you can become that person. And so life is not a matter of like, are you born this way or not?
Joe Corcione:It's a matter of what are the skills, the capabilities, and the mindsets that you need to develop to become that person? And so like, I really appreciate that compliment that you gave too, because it's like, I sit here now, and I want to be the example for people to be like, that's where I was, and here's where I am now. And the thing that like, really got me to believe that was love it or hate the guy. Like, I read Tony Robbins book, Unlimited Power.
Alex Judd:Yeah.
Joe Corcione:And he starts out the book talking about how he was overweight, homeless, broke, like had no one in his life. And then he makes the jump in the book to he's in a helicopter looking at the highway, like backed up with cars, all trying to go see him speak at a concert, and he's got his wife in the helicopter with him. And in my head, I'm like, what? Like, how? Like, how is that even possible?
Joe Corcione:And so reading that, like, clicked some things, and so for me, like, my whole thing, and I think leaders, in general, leaders are people who you look up to and you you aspire to wanna be like them.
Alex Judd:Yeah. Right?
Joe Corcione:And so like for me, I think the bet one of the best ways to lead is just to live by example, and people can see that it is possible. Because I truly believe that all of us know, and deep down inside, if we see another human being do something, like, we have the capabilities to do it ourselves. And even though we might think, oh, I might be born that way or not, if you believe in the human element to adapt, because humans are meant to adapt, we've adapted over years and years and years and years to get better and better and better, whether it's by technology or skill sets or capabilities, if we believe that we can adapt, and if we see someone transform, then we have the ability to do that themselves. So, like, my whole life has just been about, yeah, like, I'm a coach and I teach people how to run, but honestly, like, I teach people to become someone they want to be. And like, that is kind of where my whole ethos kind of lies.
Alex Judd:Man, there's so much in that that's so powerful. One of the things that stands out as a theme that I think is actually a little bit distinctive from other people that I've talked to, it seems like unfortunately the story of man, I was in a really dark spot, drugs and alcohol became super attractive, is a common theme sometimes. However, a lot of times it's I was quitting on life, Right? Like I was becoming lazy. I was becoming complacent.
Alex Judd:I was just like basically laying down and saying I quit. It almost doesn't sound like that was the case with your use of cocaine and alcohol and things like that. It almost sounds like that was maybe misplaced, but that was the attribution of your ambition almost. Is that does that feel correct?
Joe Corcione:Oh, 100%. I mean, because I've, you know, I never had the standpoint of like, you know, been like, what's the point or like, life is worthless or things like that. Like, I knew I think deep down, I've always wanted something, and I didn't can can never really place what that something was. And I thought it was money. Like, I really wanted to be a hedge fund owner and, like, own this hedge fund and make millions and millions of dollars.
Joe Corcione:When I first went to college, I wanted to be a movie critic, and I actually went for journalism, and then someone told me, they were like, You're never gonna make any money in journalism. And I was like, Really? They're like, No. And I was like, All right, well, gonna go to finance because I wanna make as much money as possible. Because I thought that if I made a bunch of money, I'd be super, super happy.
Joe Corcione:And then, like, because so at any time, like, I've had this, like, goal, like, I've always and I've always been, like, chasing something. And I'd say something, like, now I know what it is, but at the time, didn't know what it was, and I was just chasing something, and I thought it was, like, in money, and I thought it was you know, being with as many girls as possible, and like having the most friends, and like all this stuff. So like I tried to, I was in a fraternity trying to chase that side of things, like I went to a job on Wall Street, and like tried to make a bunch of money, and I did make a bunch of money, and then I always found that no matter how many people that I was with, no matter how many friends that I had, no matter how much money I made, I still end up being miserable. And so, being in that spot where I was on the floor, I was like, what, what is going on here? And that's like the whole crux of the journey, which, you know, I kinda go to.
Joe Corcione:I know I'm kinda jumping around here, but I really found that what I was chasing was fulfillment. Like, that's it. Like, was fulfillment. And the best quote on fulfillment is from Tom Bilyeu, who's, you know, he's a guy I look up to really, really well, founder of Quest Nutrition. Great, great guy, but he explains it as, fulfillment is how you feel about yourself, even when you're by yourself.
Joe Corcione:And I was like, wow, it's so good, because you're just chasing the feeling of just feeling that deep satisfaction of your life and who you are and the impact that you're making, and that's what I was searching for. And, you know, money is a vessel for that. I think friends can be a vessel for those things, but if you don't like yourself, I think it's deeply impossible to be fulfilled. And that's what was missing for me. Like, had, you know, well, it spiraled to the point where I didn't have the money, but like, when I had the money, when I had the friends, when I had all that stuff, I was missing that part of loving myself, and I truly believe you can't be fulfilled, you can't be a leader, you can't impact other people if you are not loving yourself.
Joe Corcione:And I know it sounds cliche and trite, but I think there's a lot of people who are very successful, and they don't deeply like themselves, and I think you miss that fulfillment factor. That's why we see millionaires and billionaires commit suicide every year. It's because they have this stuff, but deep down, there's just something that they don't appreciate about themselves on a subconscious or even conscious level, and life seems pointless at that point because you gotta love yourself and then you know, also be fulfilled with that and and find the things that lead to that that self love too.
Alex Judd:If we were to zoom in on that moment of you staring at the ceiling in your childhood bedroom. It's it sounds like that was a tipping point moment.
Joe Corcione:Yeah. That was the one.
Alex Judd:If we were to say, like, what are some of the ingredients that go into a breakthrough or a transformation tipping point like that, What were the ingredients that were present there that made it possible for you to, I mean, not even just shift gears, but like change the paradigm entirely?
Joe Corcione:Yeah, I think the number one ingredient, well, think there's two main ingredients. I think the first thing is self awareness, 100%. Anytime I'm working with an athlete, and they come to me and they're saying like, hey, I struggle mentally in these ultramarathons, because when I get to like mile 50 and a 100 mile race, like I start to get all these negative thoughts and these barriers, And I always go, Great, that's amazing. And they're like, What? Like, what do you mean that's amazing?
Joe Corcione:I was like, You're aware of it. And the self awareness part is 90% of the issue, or 90% of the solution. Because like, once you're aware of something, you can fix it. Like, that's why therapy is so good, because therapy helps to like, get you aware of certain things and like, why certain things exist, If you don't know there's a problem, there's no way to like solve it. So you gotta have this self awareness, right?
Joe Corcione:Because for me at the time, like, I thought my problem in life was that I didn't have enough. I didn't have enough money, I didn't have enough friends, I didn't have enough influence, I didn't have enough any of that stuff, and I got more of that, but I wasn't self aware, and if I was self aware, I would've realized that the problem was really in my head and about me and my own relationship with myself and my belief system. Right? So I think number one, have to have self awareness. And the only way that self awareness I think can happen is the second ingredient, which I think is the most important ingredient is pain.
Joe Corcione:Think pain is the biggest tool and ingredient for a breakthrough. And I actually learned this from Tony Robbins, and I didn't know it at the time, but this is what was happening at the time, is that when the pain is so great that you hit this point where it's just so overbearing, that the pain of change is less than the pain that you're currently feeling right now, you're going to make the change. Right? Because most times people don't make the change because the pain of change is so hard. Sure.
Joe Corcione:Right? If someone wants to quit smoking, like, those symptoms of withdrawal are really hard, but like to them, like the pain that they're getting of smoking doesn't set in until they have cancer, so that pain is like really low. And so, at that time, my pain was so high, like I said, like I didn't have a job, didn't have friends, didn't have a girlfriend, I was alone, and the pain was just so, so high that it almost like forced me to make some change because it was so much, it was just so omnipresent there. And, you know, I think like a lot of times, like sometimes, you know, and although I'm not a parent, like, you know, I do speak with some parents where they're like, listen, like, I just let my kid kind of fail on their own and figure it out because pain is sometimes the greatest teacher. Right?
Joe Corcione:I always think about the Ray Dalio quote that just so deeply resonates with me is that pain plus reflection equals progress. And so notice how, like, what I said for the first two things, I didn't even put this together until now, pain, that's the one ingredient, self reflection, which takes self awareness, equals progress. And I think when you have both those things, it's there too. And that's why with like, you know, I think that's why failure's so good. That's why even just being in ultramarathons, you're in this deep pain, different kind of pain, but you learn so much in there.
Joe Corcione:I think without pain in our lives, we're never gonna learn, and I'm not saying that from a disciplinary standpoint, but I think pain is the most information rich source ever because it signals to us that something is wrong, and when you can be self reflective on that pain, that's where you make the change. So for me, think, yeah, mean, shout out to Ray, because I guess he articulated in a great way, I think pain and self awareness, I think are the two ingredients for a breakthrough, and that's what I had in that moment. In terms of like, a lot of people ask me, because the thing that I did the next day that helped me a ton, and I don't know what compelled me to do this, and you know, I will chalk it up to God, the universe, whatever you believe in, right? Like, something told me to like, go to the bookstore that day and find some answers, and that's when I picked up, you know, I picked up several books, one of them being Tony's book, and then another one was like a book on yoga. Swear, yeah, because I was like, maybe yoga will help me, like, you know, I don't know, figure my life out.
Joe Corcione:Yeah. And then that all led me to eventually running down the line and stuff, so yeah, I mean, we can go deeper into that, but yeah.
Alex Judd:So in terms of life transformation, do you have that moment and then, like, drugs are a thing of the past?
Joe Corcione:Oh, no. Oh.
Alex Judd:What does that look like? Well, For you to, like, have this initial, like, I'm gonna change my life, but then also not be a snap your fingers thing takes time.
Joe Corcione:Oh, for sure. And anytime I look at a thing of progress, right, like, we tend to wanna think progress is maybe this, like, straight line up, but I always call, like, progress, like, the stock market, right? So if you look at the S and P 500 over the years and years and years, it pretty much looks like you gotta line up. But then you zoom into events like 02/2008, and you zoom into events like 2020, if you zoom in there's these big lows in there too. But over time, like, those lows will correct and go up and basically make this straight line over time.
Joe Corcione:So success is a lot like that, and I feel like at the time when I first started, this whole journey of self discovery, like, I almost, I guess, tried to anticipate it, liked to be this self line. So, where the running kinda came into it, and this kinda ties back to the answer, because I know you mentioned, make the decision to change your life, does it all go away? It's like, no. So my big thing kinda doing all this work was I looked at, okay, what is the lead domino that's gonna make everything feel better, right? I actually learned that concept from Tim Ferriss, where he's like, you gotta find the domino that's gonna tip over everything that's gonna help.
Joe Corcione:And through just like some self work and journaling and thinking through things, the biggest thing for me was getting sober. Like that was the biggest thing. Was like, if I'm sober, then I get to think clearly. I knew I had this insecurity that like who I was was only good enough with the drugs that I was at. So I was like, if I can be a person who I respect and is capable without drugs, like, that to me is gonna be huge.
Joe Corcione:So I like, I gotta get sober. So I literally opened up Google, I swear, like, this is my thought process. I type in how to get sober. That was it. I was like, that like, some people are like, I go to AA or, like, you know, rehab.
Joe Corcione:Was like, no, I went to Google. And so doing, like, my Google searches and everything, and one common element that I saw across everything was exercise. Mhmm. Like, exercise and physical movement. And in my head, I'm like, I think back to all those times in high school where I was like picked on for being unathletic, I was like, oh god, I can't do that.
Joe Corcione:I was like, okay, I can't go to the gym because if I go to the gym, I'm gonna look weird weightlifting, people are gonna make fun of me, so I was like, alright, well, what else can I do? I was like, okay, well, can get a pair of running shoes, and then I can run outside early in the morning when no one's awake, and no one can see me, and it's free, and I was like, Alright, let's just give it a shot. And so I was like, Okay. So I went to the store, I bought some running shoes, I was like, Tomorrow I'm gonna go run one mile, I'm gonna run one mile tomorrow. Wow, what year is this, Joe?
Joe Corcione:This is 2018, so 2018. I had never ran more than a mile before this, by the way, never in my life. And I was like, I'm gonna run one mile. I remember I woke up in the morning, it was 4AM, I was like, it's dark outside, no one's gonna see me.
Alex Judd:Are in New York?
Joe Corcione:I was like, alright, here we go. Put on some music, like click on the watch, and I'm like, alright, it's time to go, and I start running, and I'm like running, feeling good, and all of a sudden, I'm breathing really heavy, my legs are hurting, I like, was oh my gosh, I feel like I'm gonna die. I was like, all right, I think I'm close to a mile though, I looked out at my watch and it says point one five, and I was like, oh my gosh, I make it to a quarter of a mile, I have my hands on my knees, I'm gasping for air, and I was like, I stink. Like, this is never gonna work. And I walked back, didn't even complete the mile.
Joe Corcione:And I was like, dude, you're a failure. You said you were gonna change, and you didn't change, and blah blah blah. I'm like, oh my gosh. Like and I was just beating myself up, and I was like, yep, this is never gonna work, and everything too. But, you know, as I started to get back into those books and everything, like, thing that Tony kept saying, one thing that a lot of other people kept saying was that you just have to keep working at it, you have to keep being consistent, you gotta believe that it's gonna get better, and you have to celebrate the small wins along the way.
Joe Corcione:And one thing that Tony said that really and I know I keep going to Tony, but he was, like, very influential in my life. And and I'm not saying, like, you have to listen to Tony. Like, just find influential leaders that can help you. But one thing that he said that totally impacted me, and I think it's so true this day, most people greatly overestimate what they can do in a year. They underestimate what they can do in 10.
Joe Corcione:Mhmm. And that deeply sat with me because it was like, okay, that means that I can't expect to, like, do this all in one day, and I ran a quarter of a mile, which I hadn't even run that far years. I was like, alright, maybe there's something to it. And I said, okay, well, you know what? I'm gonna try for far the next day.
Joe Corcione:And the next day, I think I got to point two seven, and then I started building up and eventually got to that mile. And I was like, woah, like, this is awesome. Like, this is so rad. Like, I'm running a mile now? Like, this is amazing.
Joe Corcione:And that clicked something in me. It was like, dude, you couldn't run a mile on day one, now you can. So there's something to showing up each day, making small wins and small progress, not letting the failure and the disappointment hold you back, that it's gonna make you progress. And that's when I was like, okay, I think I can do this with drugs. And so I took less and less Adderall each day.
Joe Corcione:I was still drinking, but I did less and less and less each day, and just weaned it off very, very slowly, and that was kind of the whole process that, you know, kind of started to lead it to. And, you know, during that process, I signed up for my first five ks as well too, because I was like, I'm gonna keep going, keep reaching this stuff, and it was a Spartan race actually, so it was obstacles, was in Killington, Vermont, so tons of hills and stuff. And I remember I ran that five ks, and I did it sober. Like I didn't, I said, You know what today? Because I was taking Adderall every day, I was drinking a little bit every day, but I was like, I'm gonna do this thing sober.
Joe Corcione:And I went out and I ran the five ks, and it crushed me, man. Like, I mean, could barely even walk. Like, I was bartending at the time too, which is funny, bartending, trying to get sober, like, go figure. Not a great move, I don't suggest that.
Alex Judd:Yeah, that probably wasn't on Google, was No, no,
Joe Corcione:no, that was not on Google. That was a bad decision, but anyways, I remember being sent home that day because my boss is like, You're walking really weird and you're kind of freaking out the guests, so you should go home. So I was like, Okay. But there was something so awesome about that. Even though I was in all this pain, that pain was a signal of like, you push yourself, and like, that hurt and that sucked, and like, that really, really just was a tough thing, but you did it and you made it through and you feel so good about that.
Joe Corcione:And that got me thinking, I was like, it's the same journey with sobriety. Like, every time where I would wean off the Adderall that I would take, it would be harder and harder and harder each day, and then, you know, that each win, where I would take a little bit less, would feel all the more disempowering. And then fast forward that until, I think, so I ran the five ks in September, and December later that year, that was the last day I'd ever taken drugs. And I think the thing that really helped me a ton was realizing that once you stack up the wins in your life, you can have confidence to keep going on the big thing. So at that time, from September to December, I ran my first 10 ks, and then I ran my first half marathon, and I kept going on to there, and every time I broke through to those races, I realized I'm getting better and better, and all it took was for me to be more resilient and me to be more self trusting in myself, to the point where after I ran that half marathon, I realized I was like, okay, like, it's time.
Joe Corcione:And actually, funny enough, like, you know, I ended up going to, like, a Tony Robbins, you know, seminar, and literally the day after the seminar is when I took my pills, flushed them down the toilet, and that was the last day. That was the first day I was sober, and ever since then, years later, since, 2019, that was that was the day. Wow. So, yeah.
Alex Judd:Praise God, man. I mean, that's an incredible story. Like, that is unbelievable. One of the dominant elements that I feel like stands out to me that I think is applicable to anyone trying to engage with growth or life change is just the role and presence of belief. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:Can you speak to how important belief is if you're trying to change something in your life?
Joe Corcione:Oh, 100%. I mean, I think belief is everything because even if, like, I think belief is the governor to however much your potential is ever gonna show up. And here's the reason why I say this, let me, I'll link it to running, because I see us a lot in runners a lot of the times. Yeah. So I was chatting with an athlete today, who's going for a 100 mile race, and he was talking to me, and he was like, well, mentally, I feel like in these races, know I can do it.
Joe Corcione:I believe I can do it. And even just looking at his training, I mean, crushed his training. His workouts were great. His stuff was awesome. Like, every all the physical signs point to, you know, him getting this too.
Joe Corcione:And even in the past, before we started working together, all the signs, like, I look into his races that he would go for for this 100 miles, I was like, yes. He should be able to go and nail this. But before we started working together, he would have races and he would just not finish them over and over again, even though his training was great and everything. So comes to me and, you know, he's like, he's like, hey, like, I I can't finish these races. And I'm looking at his training and I'm like, your training's good, man.
Joe Corcione:Like, you're hitting the workouts, you're hitting all this stuff. Like, talk to me about what happens at the race. He's like, anytime I get to mile 60, for some reason, like, my mind says I can't go that far much farther. And I was like, what do you mean? And he's like, I don't know.
Joe Corcione:My mind just says, like, after mile 60, like, I just can't do it. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. Well, what happens? He's like, well, it tells me all the reasons I can't. It brings up all the times in the past where I failed at mile 60.
Joe Corcione:And then I say, you know what? Like, it must be right. So I stop. And then that's a perfect example where it doesn't matter how much you do the steps, doesn't matter how much you do the actions, your beliefs will always be the final determinant of your results in life. All the time.
Joe Corcione:So you will only rise to the level of your belief. That's it. Because the belief will be like a central governor, right? It's like an air conditioning. I always say like, if you believe that you're a 65 degree person and you're crushing it and you're at 67 degrees, all of a sudden your internal system's like, no.
Joe Corcione:No. No. You're a 65 degree person. It's gonna cool you down a little bit. That's why self sabotage happens.
Joe Corcione:That's why when some people get big opportunities, they end up, like, screwing things up and they're like, what? I'm so on the ball. Like, why am I not screwing up? Maybe you believe that you're not deserving of that success. Maybe you believe that you don't believe that you're deserving of this opportunity, right?
Joe Corcione:Whereas like for some people from a belief standpoint too, it can work the other way. Let's just say you're at 62 degrees, you're like, No, no, a 65 degree person. And then you just start ripping and crushing it and just getting it on. If you believe that you're worth more and right now that maybe you're in a position where you're much lesser, that's gonna kickstart you into action to get that thing done. And so belief is the whole thing.
Joe Corcione:And it's not even just beliefs about you, it's beliefs about yourself, it's beliefs about other people, it's beliefs about the world. Like, all that stuff is the lens of how we look at things. Right? Another example that I always like to say all the time is that, you know, think about it like this with belief, right? Let's just say there's two people who are going on an airplane Mhmm.
Joe Corcione:And there's one person who flies all the time, and they're like, oh, turbulence is normal. There's one person who never flies because they're so afraid of flying. And they're on the plane, they're sitting there, all of a sudden, the captain goes, alright, everybody, book your seatbelts. We've got some turbulence coming in, and all of a sudden, there's a big boom, just like a turbulence. Now the one person who flies all the time is like, no big deal.
Joe Corcione:It happens all the time. The other person's like, oh my gosh, like, what's going on? Blah blah blah. Now here's the thing why belief matters. That bump was the same exact bump for both people.
Joe Corcione:The only thing that's different. What's different? Their belief of what that bump means. So your belief is gonna shape how you view challenges. It's gonna shape how you view failure.
Joe Corcione:It's gonna shape how you view your actions, it's gonna shape everything. So you change your beliefs, you change your life. Where you see failures as opportunities, oh my gosh, you're set up for success. You see difficulty and pain as something that's gonna propel you forward, you're gonna push yourself beyond beliefs. But if you see failure as something that's gonna limit you and hold your back, you're never gonna take the shot and you're gonna stay where you're at.
Joe Corcione:If you see pain as something that's gonna be very uncomfortable and you wanna avoid, you're never gonna reach your full potential because you're never gonna push yourself. And so like, I think belief is like the biggest thing. If you keep finding those roadblocks in life, sometimes it's not even just changing your actions, it's changing your beliefs and what they mean and reshaping those.
Alex Judd:Man, that's so good. And I I love talking to you about these subjects because you've got such a per a wealth of personal growth experience, but you can also look at it from the business angle too. Mhmm. And so many ways, I feel like personal growth is just a microcosm of business growth as well. Yeah.
Alex Judd:And we're spending a lot of time within our community of impact driven leaders right now talking about the four stages of business. So we think of it as founder, operator, CEO, owner. Mhmm. And in so many ways, I think one of the caps or limiting lids for people going from operator to CEO is that they can't see themselves as a CEO. And I don't think that's all that different from someone being able to see themself run a 100 mile race in some ways.
Joe Corcione:100%. And like, I think that's that's a 100% right in the head. Like, even from a standpoint of like, when I started Everyday Ultra Coaching, like, I was the coach and I was a person on there. Similar example to you, like, where now I'm in a role where I'm kinda moving more into, like, that CEO role, and we have coaches under us. Like, I had to shift my belief to say, hey, like, I'm a business owner, like, not just a coach.
Joe Corcione:Right? Because at times, I think, like, the things that people can limit themselves with, and I'm friends with a lot of running coaches, is they're like, I'm a coach, like I can never run like a big business or anything of that such shoe, and I'm like, that's your belief. Like that's your belief right there. And the only, and I was like, and I always ask this question to even my athletes too, I'm like, what if you believed that you can go out and run a 100 miles? Could you do it?
Joe Corcione:And they're like, absolutely. And I'm like, well, why not? Like, why don't you believe? Now, obviously, it's a much like, beliefs are really tricky. The reason why they're so tricky is they're so hard to unravel.
Alex Judd:Oh, They're deeply ingrained.
Joe Corcione:Yeah. Especially, like, there's, like, low level beliefs like, oh, can I run this 100 miler or not? But usually there's a deeper belief that kinda feeds all that, and it takes a lot of time and work and doing that. But here's the thing, it's like, when you act in a way that totally negates that negative belief, the more times you do that, the less that negative belief has power
Alex Judd:over you. Man.
Joe Corcione:So that's why I kept ultra running. Like, that everyone asks me all the time, like, why did you go from half marathon to two fifty? It's because literally the whole process of that is just from the standpoint of, like, keep feeding the belief that I can keep going and do more. Now, not from a standpoint of, like, oh, like, I like, I think there's the unhealthy version of that of, like, you're always reaching for more no matter what. Yeah.
Joe Corcione:But, like, to me, it's, like, always asking, like, how can I be better to keep showing myself that if I can do the work and be better, then that's gonna help me to always have that belief of, if I'm at a place where I'm not at right now, I can get there? And that to me, I think anytime you speak with people who have depression, I don't wanna, like, total self generalize, but, a lot of the times, like, where people feel hopeless or stuck, let's just put it that way to make it little bit more milder, if you ask them, they're like, well, what's the point? There is no way out. And it's like, if you believe that there's a way out, and you believe that you can do something to get out of that, that always is hope. Like, in an ultramarathon, there's a quote that I always like to say for people all the time, it never always gets worse.
Joe Corcione:Because so I'll give you an example. When I was in Coconuta two fifty, two fifty miles, you start in Phoenix, Arizona, you go all the way to Flagstaff. Sure. Very, very long way. And so
Alex Judd:I mean, you clarified that it was a long way when you said two fifty miles, but thank
Joe Corcione:you for elaborating. Exactly. I would dude, I was at mile one ninety, and so there's 60 miles left to go. Yeah. And I'm broken.
Joe Corcione:Like, my feet hurt so bad. I got blisters up the wazoo. I'm, like, crying one second, and then I'm laughing one second, and then I'm angry one second because I have I've only slept an hour at this point, so, like, my mind's all over the place. I'm walking at a snail's pace. I can barely keep my eyes open, and I'm like, there's 60 miles left to go.
Joe Corcione:And the knee jerk thought that comes into mind is like, woah, 60 miles left to go and you're this bad? Man, you might as well stop because it's gonna get worse and worse, and that's logical. Right? Because it's like, if it's gonna get worse, like, why do I keep going? But then you have to hold on to this belief that it will get better.
Joe Corcione:It will get better, and I'm gonna do whatever I can to help to make this better, whether that's move forward, whether that's eat, whether that's take care of myself. And if you always believe that it will get better, and you believe in yourself to make it through those tough challenges, you will keep going. Mhmm. Right? And listen, it might at this point, I don't think it got better until, like, mile two forty.
Joe Corcione:So it took a while.
Alex Judd:Yeah. Took a while to
Joe Corcione:get But it was the belief that kept me going, not the fact that I felt good or not. Mhmm. And so your feelings don't matter as much when you have the belief that you can get through it, and you can make it through it, and it will get better. And sometimes the thing that it will get better is you. Right?
Joe Corcione:If you just wait for things to get better, like, you're at the whims of life, and that stinks. But if you always believe that you have this control internal, like, locus of control that you can make the situation better, it's great. And even if you can't control the things around you, you know what? You can change your mindset. Someone told me a quote once, like, if you can control a situation, take the action to change it, and make yourself in a better situation, and if you can't control anything, change your mindset.
Joe Corcione:And if you change your mindset, you'll be in a stronger place too.
Alex Judd:Man, there's something in what you just said that I think I have never thought about in this way, but you were talking about how you look at other coaches in the space of running and they view themselves basically as well the most that I could ever do is individually coach athletes. I could never do more than that. That's a limiting belief that keeps them from ever being able to do more. What's wild about those people is like those people are ultra runners. Theoretically, belief is like something that they are strong at in the field of running, but that doesn't mean necessarily that it transfers into the realm of business.
Alex Judd:I think a lot of the leaders that we work with, a lot of times their strength is they've got belief for their business. They've got belief in their their even their leadership capacity, but maybe that belief doesn't transfer to their physical health, to their marriage, to their ability to parent well, to their ability to have a life outside of their business or have a great community of friends or something like that. I I guess the thing that I'm observing is that just because belief is a strength in one area doesn't necessarily guarantee that it transfers to other areas. I guess I would like to know, is there anything that you've learned about transferring like, man, here's what I've learned in terms of belief being a strength in this area and how it can impact my life in other areas?
Joe Corcione:Yeah. This is such a great question. I love this because, obviously, I work with a lot of ultra runners, and ultra runners takes a lot of time. Right? It takes a lot of time.
Joe Corcione:It takes a lot of effort, a lot of training, and most of people we work with have full time jobs, families, some of them run businesses, some of them are high, you know, executives at companies. And I always tell people this all the time, is, you know, if you have other priorities in your life that you cherish and you love and you wanna have a lot of great success in, whether that's family, anything else, right, job, whatever, you name it on there too, I always say, like, number one, take the lessons that you learned from ultra running and apply it to that, and number two, like, you're not here to be a better ultra runner. You're here to be better in those areas as well too. Mhmm. Because, like, always say with ultra running, for me, it was not a standpoint of being a better runner or running for how much.
Joe Corcione:Like, I did it to get sober to be a better person. And now that I am sober, it's like, it teach it's teaching me tools how to be better in other areas. And so the way that, number one, I always suggest to answer a question of like, how do you take something that you're good at one area and applying it to other? I think, especially with something like running, running's a really good example of it, we can see running as just like this silo kind of like away from our life. And we can just see life in silos, right?
Joe Corcione:We see life in different buckets, right? We have our career bucket, we have a family bucket, we have a running bucket, and all those kind of things too. And we can see them as separate. But here's the reality. Like, we're a holistic person.
Joe Corcione:And if we can show up in one way super strong, we can do that in another way. And I learned that with running because the thing that helped me a ton was doing things like going from five k to 10 k to half marathon from a base of never really running more than a mile before. And so in my standpoint, was like, woah. If I can do that standpoint of never being able to run again to running a freaking half marathon, then I can go from a place of not being able to function at all with Adderall to functioning literally sober off anythings too. And so success leaves clues in your own life in other areas.
Joe Corcione:So like if you know that you can keep pushing yourself, and let's just say, you know, you're you you wanna grow your family, and right now you have the belief of, like, I don't know if I can be the a person who can, you know, raise a good family with two kids, like, that's that's your belief. Like, you know what I mean? Like, why do you believe that? And and, why you believe that's a whole different other story, and you wanna get to the root cause of that, but my whole standpoint is, listen, if you signed up and you ran a 100 miles off of a place of never running a 100 miles before, who's to say that you can't be a parent of two kids? Right?
Joe Corcione:The biggest thing that I see all the time is that people come to me and they're like, well, I can never train for 100 miles because I have three kids, I have a full time job, I have all this stuff too, and what I do first and foremost all the time is I go, I go, well, first of all, like, you have to make the decision that this is something that you want to go out
Alex Judd:and try at first.
Joe Corcione:Because right now, like, I think the the limiting belief, like, takes that decision off the table. Yeah. So I think, like, number one, have to be open to the new belief. Right? It's like, oh, I'm open to it if this is possible.
Joe Corcione:Yeah. Because if you're not open to it and you have this belief, like, everything is shut down, right? So all the time, like, and I'm not gonna, like, talk about specific sides of with politics. The reason why, like, politics, you can never convince someone of a certain party to believe the other party is because that's a firm, deeply belief in them. It's a firm root of belief.
Joe Corcione:They're not open to other things too. So have you to be open to changing the belief. That's the first thing. The second thing that I do is say, hey. I've worked with this client, and this is this is a real client.
Joe Corcione:She's amazing. Her name's Erica. She's awesome. She had two young girls. She just had another young girl, and she ran a 100 miles.
Joe Corcione:She was working all at the same time too. She ran a 100 mile race and never missed a workout. Two young girls, full time job, and she did. And and I've and I have countless other stories of that. And so, again, going back to what I said before, one way to shift your beliefs, look at other people who are doing the same situation and know that it's a human thing, not a them thing, it's a human thing.
Joe Corcione:That's the second thing. And then the third thing is give it a try. So this is a very big point. I use that language very intentionally. I don't say go out and do it.
Joe Corcione:Because a lot of the times, we don't even try because we think that it's not gonna fail, again, belief wise. So I always say, hey, listen, let's just give it a try for a month or two. If it goes well, awesome. And more times than not, it ends up going well because we ended up training them the right way, but then they see that and they're like, oh, this is possible. Okay.
Joe Corcione:Like, this is amazing. And a lot of the times, if you just say, okay, let me just give it a try for two months instead of committing to a whole training block, like, you're gonna do it. Right? So you just kinda take it one step at a time and don't make a judgment on how it's gonna go, like, right off the bat. Just give it a try, give it a shot, let's just see what happens.
Alex Judd:So I think Man, there's a gold mine in that that you tell people give it a try for something like trying a 100 mile race, a training plan for a 100 mile race. And the fact that you say more times than not, it works, I just think that speaks so much to how much we cap ourselves in terms of what we're capable of. Yes. That more often than not, people are capable of the thing that they literally thought was impossible.
Joe Corcione:100%. And and even from that thing too, it's a lot of things that happens. People just don't even take the first step.
Alex Judd:Yeah.
Joe Corcione:They don't take the first step. Like, I always tell people in the middle of the race, like, I've seen people in horrible shape in these races at mile 75, and they have 25 miles left to go. Their feet are destroyed, their stomach's jacked up, they're super tired, like, whatever. Like, they're just they've just gone through, like, the gauntlet out there. Right?
Joe Corcione:And they got 25 miles left, it's pitch black out there and everything, and they're like, I don't know if I can do it. And I remember this exactly, was volunteering at a race, it was a 100 mile race, and there's a guy in this exact situation, that's why I bring it up, I'll never forget it, and he's sitting there and he's like, I can't do it. And I was like, why can't you do it? He's like, I got all this stuff, I like, alright, well listen, How about this? Like, you can drop from the race if you want.
Joe Corcione:You can drop. But guess what? You can't drop at this aid station. Just give it a try. Go to the next aid station.
Joe Corcione:And if you wanna drop there, go ahead. I was like, I'll see you at the next aid station. So he goes out, and he goes and drives it, and comes to next aid station, he's like, I'm gonna keep going. And I was like, why are you gonna keep going? He's like, because I showed that I can keep going, like, just by going out and doing it.
Joe Corcione:So I didn't tell him finish the race. I didn't tell him go for the rest of 25 miles. I said, just go seven miles out and just give a try and see what happens, and a lot of the times we rob ourselves of that little opportunity. So that's why I always tell people in ultra marathons, right, it's like, don't focus on 100 miles, focus on getting to the next aid station. If that's too far, focus on getting to the next mile.
Joe Corcione:If that's too far, heck, I've had some races where my legs are so bad, I'm just like, I'm just gonna get to that tree, and that's all I'm gonna focus on. And then once you finally get to the tree, you're like, oh, I'm gonna do the tree. Let's make it to that bush now. And you just keep having these little micro wins, and that's all you gotta focus on. And when you focus on that, then you realize after all those little trees that you celebrated the victories on, gone a 100 miles.
Joe Corcione:Yeah. And you believe that you couldn't go the 100 miles. So you don't have to you don't even think have to think about the big thing. Just think about what is the smallest win you can do, give it a try. If it works, amazing.
Joe Corcione:If it doesn't work, guess what you learned. Right? Like, I think a lot of the times the biggest reasons why people don't get the opportunities in life is because they just don't at least take the first step. And that's the biggest thing.
Alex Judd:I think I just finally pieced together how you are a person that can run 250 miles is you run to the next tree but you live in Arizona so there's never any trees.
Joe Corcione:There's never
Alex Judd:any trees, yes! It's like the tree's in
Joe Corcione:the
Alex Judd:It's
Joe Corcione:finish
Alex Judd:line and you're like you only get four trees!
Joe Corcione:Can go right to the finish line being like, Hey, haven't seen a tree yet so I'm just gonna keep going.
Alex Judd:Exactly right. Okay, so what's the I mean, it feels like a pretty big gap in a very small amount of time from 13 miles, half marathon. That I mean, Joe, it's why I love talking to you on this subject because you're not exaggerating when you're saying it was huge deal to run a half marathon. Like that was a massive What deal for is the process of going from that to competing? Not even just running and finishing, but competing in 5,100 mile, two fifty mile, you've even ran a 300 mile race.
Joe Corcione:Yeah, thank you for that. I appreciate that. And you know, that's, the competition kind of part of it came from, again, like, why I got fulfilled with a half marathon, which by the way, I do wanna say something on here, because I think this is so important, because I hear all the time people come up to me, they're like, I'm training for my first half marathon, but you, Joe, like, that, I know it's nothing. Like, I know it's nothing, and I'm like, no, no, don't say that. You doing a half marathon for the first time is way more impressive than me doing a 100 miles.
Joe Corcione:And I look at me, like, what what what do you mean? And I say, well, because for you, you're doing something you've never done in your life before. Right? You, obviously, you have little I think about a baby all the You
Alex Judd:think about a baby all the time, right?
Joe Corcione:Think about with Lily, right? Lily takes her first step, like, everybody walks every single day, are we gonna look at that first step and be like, oh my gosh, like, she's just walking, whatever. No, we're gonna be like, yeah, you did it, Lily, oh my gosh, it's amazing. Do you know why? That baby has never taken a step before.
Joe Corcione:Mhmm. And that is an amazing thing that we celebrate. And so people all the time, it can be so easy to compare where you're at in your journey, not just with running, with business, with life, and everything, and be like, oh, well, I can't celebrate this because x and y and z is doing something better all the time. And I always say this, I'm like, hey, you doing something, even if it's a shorter distance, if that's the first time in your life you've done that thing, that is infinitely harder than someone who's running their seventh 100 miler
Alex Judd:Yeah.
Joe Corcione:All the time. So And anyways, want to preface that first and foremost.
Alex Judd:Well, let me, it goes back to what you said at the beginning. I'm trying to think of a time where I saw someone take on a physical challenge in their life, whether it's running their first ever five k or do their first ever half marathon or do their first full marathon. Right? Or something entirely different than all those things. I'm trying to think of a single example of where I saw someone do that, and it wasn't a net positive for them.
Alex Judd:Like, not just net positive for them physically, but net positive for their life. And I don't know that I can think of a single example. It's just wild how something about physical growth has massive ramifications for other, every other area of our life.
Joe Corcione:100%. Because we gain that confidence. And I like, that's why I think running is so great. Not saying that everybody has to run because you don't, but, like, running is so awesome because it really just breaks things down into its most simplest form. Because to ask your question, how did I go from 13 to competing?
Joe Corcione:Well, really the simplest thing was, number one, I just learned how to train better, and number two was I just applied the work. And why I say running is so simple is because it really is, it's just a matter of just putting one foot in front of the other. Now sure, there's some workouts you can do and some speed stuff, and how you structure the training. Great, there's all that stuff, but if you really break down running, all it is is just putting one foot in front of the other. That's it.
Joe Corcione:And so a of times in life, it can be a little bit more complex. Know, there's, like, complex relationships and a lot of if then statements and a lot of different, like, other kind of branches that can come in, especially with business. Right? Like, business is a multivariable game. Like, but there's only one thing for certain in ultramarathons.
Joe Corcione:If you keep going, you will probably finish. Like, that's it. That's all it is. And honestly, that's life too. Like, one of the best quotes I've ever heard was from Alex Hermoazu, I know we were talking about before too, and I know some people have some, like, different opinions about him, this is a great quote, and it's simple, but it's so powerful.
Joe Corcione:If you don't stop, you'll never lose. And I was like, oh, so good. It's so good. Because what running taught me is, like, if you just keep going and, like, you know, to go to the competition thing too, like, I mean, the biggest thing for me was, again, just keep showing up day after day after day after day after day. And kinda where the competition thing kinda came in for me was, you know, I was at this time, I was training for my first a 100 mile race.
Joe Corcione:And while I was doing that first a 100 mile race, like, everyone asked me, like, oh, are you scared of not finishing? I was like, no. Like, I'm gonna finish. Like, I know I'm gonna finish. Like, I know I'm gonna do really like, I know this.
Joe Corcione:And that kinda clicked something in me. Was like, woah, woah, on a second. Like, let's go back, and let's look at why this process of running was so fulfilling for you. When I signed up for my first 10 k, I wasn't sure if I was gonna finish it. And to make even things crazier, there was, like, a nor'easter on that day.
Joe Corcione:It was a huge storm. It was I hate the cold. Like, I was freaking out. I was like, oh my gosh. And I was like felt like I like, there was a chance of me dying at that race.
Joe Corcione:Not true. But, like, I was literally, oh my god. And when I did the first half marathon, I was like, oh my gosh. And when I did my first 50 k, was like, oh my gosh. And, like, all those things kind of,
Alex Judd:like, that my gosh? Is it fear for you of not finishing? Is it fear of dying or getting hurt? Like, what is the blocker for you?
Joe Corcione:So I wouldn't say it's a blocker, but I think that any goal that's worth setting has a little bit of a chance of failure in it.
Alex Judd:Okay. And is that what you're scared of?
Joe Corcione:I wouldn't say it's scared, but it's more of like the uncertainty that you're going to do the thing. I think there's gotta be a little bit of that in any goal in order for it to be worthwhile.
Alex Judd:Yeah.
Joe Corcione:And so, yeah. Is there
Alex Judd:and maybe it's not fear, is is there any timidity of let's just take a 300 mile race for the first time. Is there any timidity of maybe there's the the anxiety of I might not be able to do it, but there also could be the anxiety of if you're a high achieving ambitious person, what if I do do it and what are the implications of that in terms of what I had to give up to get there, the impact that it had on my relationships, the impact that it had on my body, things like that. Because that's something that I think everyone wrestles with in every arena of life is not just fear of failure, but also fear of success in some ways.
Joe Corcione:Oh, for sure. Right? I mean, like, and that's like one reason. I mean, I see us all the time. They call it the Ironman widow.
Joe Corcione:Right? They use Ironman, but but think it applies well.
Alex Judd:Like That's so sad.
Joe Corcione:Yeah, and that's like an actual widely used term for people who just are training all the time, and their wives are at home, or husbands, whoever, like, is just not seeing their partner all the time. I, first of all, I'm very disagreeing with that. Like, I think, unless, like, that's a conscious decision on your end, and you're like, hey, my wife's okay with it, she's ready, like, because I have some athletes that are like, hey, like, listen, like, my wife wants me to do what I pursue, like, whatever. If that's your conscious choice, great, but if you're someone who's like, I wanna have a family, I wanna be there for my kids and everything like that too, like, number one, I think you can make it work. I think you can train
Alex Judd:for them to have lot Yeah. Right.
Joe Corcione:It's a
Alex Judd:belief thing. Someone once told me whenever I was doing Ironmans, they told me, Ironman career family choose two. And it's like, that is and they were serious, right? Yeah. And it's like that that is a belief system that if you believe that's how it works, you will follow that belief system and say, well, this
Joe Corcione:is the way
Alex Judd:the world works. If I want to do Ironman, I have to say no to something else.
Joe Corcione:100%. And you can do all like, right? So, like, I look at we talked about Russell Brunson before. Like, I look at Russell Brunson, like, he's crushing it in business, crushing it with his family. He's very, very faith driven man.
Joe Corcione:Like, he, like, he's very, very into his church and service and stuff like that. And I love that. And it's like, like, you asked me before, like, who's a person? I see it like that because he is seeing what's important in life and doing it all to the max. Now I think the biggest thing with the fear of success and just and all that stuff in general is, like, you do have to pick things that you prioritize the most.
Joe Corcione:Like, another Ray Dalio quote that haunts me in my sleep, but it's so true. You can do anything you want, but you can't do everything. Yeah. And now, again, it kinda goes back to thing, doesn't that challenge belief? It's like, no, you gotta list out the things that you really are important in life.
Joe Corcione:So for you, you're like, okay, training's important, family's important, career's important, but maybe going out and partying or socializing as much, maybe that's something that's not as important to me. Okay, great. Or maybe doing things like other personal hobbies, like golfing or something like that. If you really like running more, you might have to pick those priorities. But I think it comes from a standpoint of number one, prioritizing the things in your life, and number two, being the best at those single priorities.
Joe Corcione:Because I'll give you an example. For me, I run a business, I train really hard, I have a wife, I now have a dog, and, like
Alex Judd:In the past month, you have a dog.
Joe Corcione:Yeah. Past month, have a dog and stuff like that too. And, you know, for me, I and I'd stay in touch socially with people and stuff like that too, but, like, I really wanna do those things, and, like, right now, this season of my life, I do hang out with friends here and there too, but it's not as much of a bigger priority. Now, again, like, people might think about it and like, oh my god, like, that's terrible. If that's, like, the thing that you want, like, great.
Joe Corcione:That's awesome. Like, I'm not saying that you have to live like me, but it's, like, define what your priorities are. There's some people who are, I would never want kids because, like, I just wanna focus on, like, me. Great. Like, listen, I'm I'm I wanna have kids one day.
Joe Corcione:Yeah. I don't agree with that philosophy for me, but whatever is important to you, like, find things that are important and maximize those all. And if you're afraid of, like, all the sacrifices you give it, instead of being afraid of that, being like, how can I make this work?
Alex Judd:Yeah.
Joe Corcione:It's not I cannot make this work, it's how can I make this work?
Alex Judd:Can you speak to because you were already competing in ultras prior to getting married to Lexi. Yeah. Then you get married to Lexi. How does that change the way that you approach planning out running and planning training schedules, the way you approach your business, all of that.
Joe Corcione:Yeah, 100. And then even just to really quickly answer the question, know I rounded about a lot, but I decided to compete in these Ultras because for my first 100 miler, I knew I was gonna do it, and to go back to that thing, I truly believe any goal in life is worth like a little bit of failure, and so for me, I was like, I wanna push myself to the point to compete in these things, because that was the thing where there's an element of failure, where it's like, I went to the start of the night of the 100 mile race, and I'm not saying this out of arrogance, was just like, I know I'm gonna finish this, and to me, I was missing that element of potentially failing, whereas I knew if I went out to compete against some of the best athletes in the world, there's a big chance of failure in that too, but I was like, you know what, I wanna go for that. Because for me, having that element that it is not 100% guaranteed, I think makes the goals all the more worth it, because when you complete a goal that has a 20% success rate versus a 100% success rate, what are you gonna get more excited about?
Alex Judd:Yeah, that's, man, no kidding. Yeah. Okay, so let's take a shift in the conversation then because of what you just said. I think I read you've done 20 plus ultramarathons now.
Joe Corcione:Mhmm.
Alex Judd:Right? You started in 2018. Mhmm. So it's not like you gradually worked your way up. Like, you you got there pretty quickly.
Alex Judd:I think you've DNF'd one.
Joe Corcione:Yep.
Alex Judd:Right? What was that experience like?
Joe Corcione:Yeah. So this is a document we have a documentary on this called
Alex Judd:Broken It's at three exceptional. Thank We'll put the link in the show notes because it's so good, and I feel like it's a visual representation of all the principles you're talking about.
Joe Corcione:Thank you so much. I appreciate it. But, yeah, so that was the Arizona Monster three hundred milers. 300 miles, the first year doing the race. And I went to that race, I was like, I wanna win this thing.
Joe Corcione:Like, I had never wanted to win a race more in my life. And like, I wanna win. And I put in the best training block in my entire life. Now, was there a chance that I wasn't gonna win? A 100%.
Joe Corcione:There was totally a chance. And I knew that I was like, No matter what, I'm gonna finish this thing. No matter what. And so I ended up going for it, and I trained, I put the best training block of my life, I was so confident on that start line. And in the middle of the race, yeah, went through your usual trials and tribulations and a lot of highs and lows and all of the things you get in an ultramarathon.
Joe Corcione:And this doesn't spoil the true ending of the doc, because there is another ending of the doc, but I do end up not finishing the race because my knee exploded out there and basically got so swollen I couldn't even walk on it, And I had to be carried out of thing. I was on crutches the next day, but I only made it 200 miles out of 300. Now, I look at that as the best thing that's happened to me in my ultra running career. At the time I didn't. I was crying.
Joe Corcione:I was so upset. I was like, oh my gosh. I can't believe that happened. That's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Two different reasons.
Joe Corcione:Number one, I'm so proud of myself for going for it. I always think about that Teddy Roosevelt quote. Right? It's always about the man in the arena, not the critic. It's not the critic who counts.
Joe Corcione:It's about the person who's in there, whose face is marred by sweat, blood, and dust, and the person who's actually doing it, because the person who went for it is gonna live a more fulfilling life than the person who sits there and doesn't even try at all. That's a paraphrase of a quote, but that's essentially what it is, so I'm proud of myself for that. And then the second thing is, gosh, the biggest lesson I learned from that is, dude, you need to strength train more. I was like, the reason why your knee blew up is because my left my left hip was a little bit weaker than my right, just a tiny bit, but because I was running so hard for 200 miles, like, and that compensation ended up putting a lot of weight on my knee, it blew up and did that. And why did that happen?
Joe Corcione:Because I wasn't strength training enough. Then I started strength training. I strength training, like, three to four times a week now. I'm totally on it, and I had one of the best races of my life after that too. And because of that, like, I was like, wow.
Joe Corcione:If I didn't mess up that race, who knows how great I would've performed? So, like, the reason why I think that's just so awesome is because even if you when you go for a goal, like I mentioned before, it's so fulfilling when you complete a goal that has a little bit of a chance of failure, But guess what? No. It's not a win lose. It's a win win.
Joe Corcione:Mhmm. Because if you complete it, win, you did it. If you fail it, you get a lesson that is so information rich that is gonna make you better in the future. So no matter what, you win win. So why would you ever let failure stop you from making that step?
Joe Corcione:Because if you know that it's a game where no matter what you're winning, man, you better take those shots all the time. So anytime someone comes to me and it's like, Oh, I'm afraid of failing on this goal. Now again, if you're taking a business shot and it's a one to 99 chance, and you have an investment where the risk can be mitigated, taken, but from a standpoint of like, if you're just afraid of the failure, and there is a shot that you can do it, don't let the failure hold you back, because no matter what, you're gonna win. And I think that principle changed my life no matter what, because and it and that goes back to the just try. Right?
Joe Corcione:Just try. Like, don't don't don't measure it on success, measure it on did you give it a shot?
Alex Judd:Mhmm. Before we get to the final question, number one, I would tell people they should watch the documentary because it's so good, but how can people follow along with everything you and your team are doing,
Joe Corcione:Drew? Thank you so much. First of it's an amazing conversation, by the way.
Alex Judd:And I if
Joe Corcione:you're watching, keep listening to Path for Growth. I mean, I've listened to Path for Growth before we even were friends, which is so awesome, so it's surreal to be here, so thank you. Yeah, I mean, we put out tons of free content on our podcast Everyday Ultra, you can find wherever podcasts are at, and then on YouTube, have an Everyday Ultra page, and we have a lot of tips on not only just how to be a better ultra runner, but to be a better person. And so, if running interests you, you'll find a lot of good content. If even just mindset interests you, we have some good content, but we're all about giving as much value away for free, and yeah, because we truly wanna make people not only better runners, but better people, and so that's what we're here for.
Alex Judd:So good, man. And I I cannot speak enough to like the value that his company is bringing too, and so if you are looking to train for a race, I would say, man, check everyday ultra out to say the least, and we'll put the links to all those things in the show notes. Okay. Final question for you. I think it's almost possible that the jump from zero miles to one mile might actually be harder than the jump from one mile to even 250 miles.
Alex Judd:Yes. Just that it's so hard to get out of the rut of I'm not doing anything till I'm doing something. And without a shadow of a doubt, we know now enough people listen to this that there's probably some people to listen that listen to this that self identify as like, I'm at that zero mile stage. Like, I know something needs to change, but literally getting up and doing different things to get different results is the thing that they haven't yet found the energy to muster and do something new. If that person's sitting down with you and talking to you, what would you tell them?
Joe Corcione:Yes. Well, you know, it kinda relates to the cold plunge that we went on right before this. So I told Alex, I hate getting wet, and I hate cold water. And he's like, let's put a lot of people that
Alex Judd:hate cold water. I've never met anyone that's literally like, I don't like getting wet.
Joe Corcione:No. I don't like getting wet. I don't know why. I really don't, but I don't like getting wet. But anyways, it's funny because I run and I sweat all the But all that being said, like, you you said, like, I have, like, my foot, like, about to go in.
Joe Corcione:You're like, you just gotta do it. And I like, yep. You're right. You just gotta do it. And so literally, I think the thing is if you're at a place where it's just so hard to take that first step, know that number one, that first step is the hardest.
Joe Corcione:And here's a practical piece of advice that honestly helped me so, so freaking much was literally just count down to five in your head and then just do it. Now this is attributed to Mel Robbins. I can't take credit for this. She has a she's great. She has a thing.
Joe Corcione:It's called the five second rule. And literally, this is like it sounds so simple, but it's so true, there's a lot of science behind it that we don't have the time to go into too. But basically, if you just like, okay. Wanna do this thing and just go, saying I don't wanna pay my people, but it's a tedious process, you gotta input numbers. Sure.
Joe Corcione:Like the creative stuff. So literally, this morning when I was about to do payroll, was like, alright, five, four, three, two, one, go to the website, open, and just start. And once you start, you'll just keep going. The hardest part is just getting the first thing done. And so, the hardest part with me is putting on the shoes, getting out there, and you don't even have to focus on the next day, you don't have to focus on the day after, just focus on today.
Joe Corcione:To focus on that first step, and just do that, count down to five, make it done, and that first step's the hardest, and once you do it, you go. Most of the times when I go out for a run, I will say maybe 90% of the time, I sit there, I look at my shoes, and I'm like, oh god, I really don't wanna do this. I I swear, like, lot of people are like, oh, don't believe that because you're a running coach. I'm like, no. Like, honestly, like, left to my own demises, I'd probably be a lazy person on the couch just watching TV.
Joe Corcione:I really would, but I understand, I'm like, in order to get to where I need to be, I need to take this uncomfortable step. And you always gotta ask yourself, what do you really want? There's what you want, well, wanna just sit and chill and just, you know, kinda relax, but I really want to be the best version of myself. And all the times when you can ask that question, what do I really want? Then that first step just becomes easy even when it's hard.
Alex Judd:Thanks, Joe.
Joe Corcione:Thank you so much.
Alex Judd:Hey, Thanks so much for watching. If you want more content like this, we've got some killer stuff planned. So make sure you rate, review, and subscribe. Let's go. Let's go.
Alex Judd:Let's go.
