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TMHS 554: Focus Your Mind, Shift Your Perception, & Become Driven – With Danica Patrick

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo

If you’ve been neglecting your goals or need inspiration to go toward your dreams, this episode is for you. Today’s guest is record-breaking racecar driver, author, and podcaster Danica Patrick. Danica has been recognized as one of Time’s Most Influential People, and the first woman to win an IndyCar championship, among other impressive achievements. 

On this episode of The Model Health Show, Danica is sharing key insights on success, goal setting, visualization, and how to channel your unique gifts and passions. This episode contains conversations on tapping into your unique intelligence, the power of setting an intention, and why setting big goals can result in enormous success. 

You’re going to hear how Danica became a racecar driver, and how her career pivoted over time. Danica is sharing her experience with setting and achieving goals, the power of having clarity, and so much more. So listen in enjoy this episode of The Model Health Show! 

In this episode you’ll discover:

  • How Danica got involved in racing. 
  • The types of exercises Danica used to train for racing. 
  • How Danica moved to England for racing opportunities. 
  • The relationship between skepticism and open-mindedness.
  • Why your perception creates your reality. 
  • The importance of recognizing different types of intelligence. 
  • Danica’s experience racing IndyCars. 
  • The importance of setting big goals.  
  • Why clarity is the key to success. 
  • How to learn from difficult experiences.
  • The two hardest parts of setting an intention.
  • How visualization can help you reach your goals. 
  • Why you should expect magic in your life. 

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Items mentioned in this episode include:

Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Model Health Show. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute and leave a quick rating and review of the show on Apple Podcast by clicking on the link below. It will help us to keep delivering life-changing information for you every week!

Transcript:

SHAWN STEVENSON: Welcome to The Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert, Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today. It's not often that we get to talk to real life superheroes, people that go from 0 to 230 miles per hour, but that's what we have for you today. We're talking about mental clarity, focus, visualization, the fitness and the fortitude to be able to do the superhuman. But not just that, how do we even put ourselves in position to access our greatness that we all have within our own capacity, our unique gifts and talents that often lie dormant until we put ourselves in the right conditions. We're going to be talking about all that stuff today, and this is an absolutely incredible conversation. Now, before the interview today, I got my special guest a little gift, and with the help of my wife by the way, because I found out that they are a collector of coffee mugs, and as you know, they could be very unique. My favorite coffee mug is a Thanos gauntlet with the infinity stones on it. Yes, that's what I have, that's what I'm sipping out of. Alright. I got another mug that my son got me that says, "Cat Dad". We don't have a cat, he thought it was funny. Alright.

 

I'm a fan of a good mug, especially I like the superhero type mug. It's a vibe, it's something that relates to you. It might have a little message on there, my wife's favorite mug it says, "Queen of everything," you know, so shout out. So I got my special guest a mug which she brought up, we talked on the show about it actually, and a part of that meditative process for many people, it's starting the day with that cup of coffee and it's something that is a major part of our culture but I think that we really lost the essence of its root and its origins and its beauty, because this particular, for many people, and this is a little fun fact, or not so fun fact, for the average person, for the average American, coffee is actually the highest source of antioxidants that they're getting. These antioxidants are helping to keep them alive right? Now, of course, there can be some controversy around coffee, but it's generally going to be towards the things that are added to the coffee, the processed sweeteners, and the processed creamers and artificial this and that. It's not the root of coffee itself. And also, the rampant use when people start leaning on coffee just to get by and they're having eight cups a day, or... I've literally had people I've worked with that, this is no joke, 12 cups of coffee at day, and wonder why they got the shakes.

 

This is a true story. Absolute true story, helped him to ratchet back on the coffee, they thought I was a genius because their hands stopped shaking all the time. I was just like, this isn't rocket science here, right? But here's the thing, with coffee, there's a clear bell-shaped curve of benefits. In fact, Stanford University recently deduced that caffeine in coffee is able to defend against age-related inflammation. We know today, the science around inflammation is growing rapidly because now it's attributed to all manner of chronic diseases, from obesity to heart disease to diabetes, having this underlying facet of systemic inflammation. Coffee is able to actually defend against that. The research revealed that light to moderate coffee drinkers live longer and more healthfully, their health span is longer, thanks in part to the protection caffeine provides by suppressing genes related to inflammation.

 

We're talking about nutrigenomics, nutrigenomics, in its freshly brewed glory. In addition to that, we can go the route of having coffee or we can upgrade things and make sure that we're getting an organic coffee that's not treated with pesticides and rodenticides and herbicides, all things that are the opposite of health affirmative. And we now have massive amounts of peer-reviewed evidence as to pesticides being related to damage to the microbiome, to creating inflammation in and of itself. So not just cancelling out the benefits we're looking for, but potentially making things worse. So organic, but also infusions. This is where we are today. High quality organic coffee infused with the storied and stacks on stacks and stacks of peer-reviewed evidence now on the benefits of medicinal mushrooms. Like Lion's Mane. Researchers at the University of Malaya have uncovered that Lion's Mane medicinal mushroom has been found now to help to heal the brain when talking about dealing with traumatic brain injuries, there are compounds in Lion's Mane that stimulate neurogenesis, the creation of new brain cells. Actually, there's a lot of work being done there. Also, we have some peer-reviewed evidence identifying its ability to help to reduce anxiety and stress as well.

 

So, to have that together, we have Lion's Mane medicinal mushroom, organic coffee infused together. Also, with chaga, which is the highest antioxidant source, far beyond coffee, of any consumed food or beverage that has ever been discovered. Alright, we're talking about ever, forever ever. Chaga is off the charts. So, all this together in your cup to start the day, that's what you get with Four Sigmatic. Go to FourSigmatic.com/model. That's F-O-U-R-S-I-G-M-A-T-I-C.com/model. You're going to get 10% off their incredible mushroom coffee blends. And also, if you're not a fan of coffee, all good, they have amazing mushroom teas, aka mushroom elixirs that are based on Lion's Mane, cordyceps, chaga, all dual extracted. This is what sets Four Sigmatic apart, dual extracted, hot water extract, alcohol extract to actually get all of these bio-available compounds. So, you're not getting shorted on anything. They do stuff the right way. Go to FourSigmatic.com/model. Now, let's get to the Apple Podcast review of the week.

 

iTunes Review: Another five-star review titled “Muscle-centric Medicine”, by Rebecca WRC. “More mind-expanding info bombshell in this episode with Dr. Lyons. Thank you, Shawn, for continuing to bring such helpful and integrity-driven guests and information forward. So much trust and gratitude your way.”

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Amazing, thank you so much. That's from our episode that we did with Dr. Gabriel Lyon, focusing on muscle-centric medicine. So definitely want to check out for sure. But this review also mentioned driven, being driven. And that is a perfect segue to today's special guest. As a race car driver, Danica Patrick broke barriers and set records with her on track performance. And now recently with her race car career being complete, she's focusing today on good food, fitness and helping other people to achieve their goals. Danica joined the mainstream ranks, succeeding in the male-dominated world of professional motorsports. Danica was named at Times 100 Most Influential People's list and graced the cover of many prestigious publications. In her rookie season, Danica stunned the world by leading for 19 laps and finishing fourth in her first Indianapolis 500. She became the first woman to lead laps and score a top five finish in this historic race. She actually made the pivot from IndyCar to NASCAR as well. And in her close out season, she raced what's called now the Danica Double and competed in two marquee events that were cornerstones of her career, the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500.

 

Today, she's here to share her story, her insights, and what enabled her to get into that position in the first place, but also all of the other amazing things that have sprung from her experience. And some of these things are probably going to surprise you. And I'm telling you right now, so many of these nuggets are things that we can all apply in our lives to do the impossible, to do what seems impossible, and to really access our true greatness. Let's jump into this conversation with the amazing Danica Patrick. So, fitness is a big part of your life.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: When did that start? Were you always into fitness as a kid, or do that kind of evolve later?

 

DANICA PATRICK: It probably evolved. Racing got me into it because I had to be strong. So, I started actually probably working out when I was like 14.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, what kind of training did you do early on for getting stronger, I guess, to be able to handle the car?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Push-ups. I had one of those, a bar with a weight on the bottom and working on my grip strength, my fore arms. Yeah, I'd go into the gym, and I'd use equipment. Before I had my license, stayed with my parents, 'cause I lived in the middle of nowhere, they'd let me take the car and drive to the YMCA a couple miles away. And I'd go work out, drive home.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, you were hitting the Why. This is a... First of all, Midwest represent...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Sometimes you only have a Why, okay?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's it. Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Alright.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Yeah. The YMCA was everything. There was a community center that we had in one of the neighborhoods that I lived in. But just having that outlet too... And also, again, it's not uncommon that somebody under the "legal age" is going to drive somewhere by the way.

 

DANICA PATRICK: My sister and I were driving when we were not tall enough to reach both the pedals and the steering wheel.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You don't say.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I mean, yeah. We were driving around my parents' building in my dad's truck and my sister would steer, and then I would work the pedals or vice versa.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: This sounds like a movie.

 

DANICA PATRICK: And this is really what happened.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Little rascals, yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Like, "Okay, hit the brakes. Slow down." And we would just inch our way around the building at like probably 6, I don't know, 7. I don't know. We were really young.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Did you rob banks as well? I mean, holy moly.

 

DANICA PATRICK: We would be unassuming.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right. It's unassuming now, just... There was obviously, people who had an eye out for if you come into the bank with a mask on.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Now.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Now, right.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Well, they're doing now.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So crazy. So, growing up in the Midwest, what was it for you... I think I heard a little bit of a story of how when you initially got into driving, that you were just kind of looking for something maybe with your dad just to do for just connection time. Were you guys going to, I guess, get a boat? It was the original plan?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Could you tell us about that?

 

DANICA PATRICK: You've got a good... You got a lot of good parts of the story. Yeah, I was 10 and my sister was eight. And my dad worked all the time. And my mom was able to stay at home with us. And so, we didn't see our dad very much. And so, the idea was, "What can we do on the weekends to spend time together and be closer as a family?" So, yeah, one of the ideas was to get a boat. But that didn't work out. And so instead, I decided to get go-carts. And that was really because of my sister. My sister, she's younger than me. She was the one that was eight. She was super into it. So, on the weekends, my dad would work on sprint cars midgets. They race on dirt ovals and go sideways and kick up clay and all kinds of stuff. And my sister and I would sit in the stands and my dad would be working on the cars in the pits. And we'd just get 20 bucks and have the long liquorish and we'd get the snow cones with the rainbow snow cones, Snickers and whatever else and we just have an amazing time in the stands. So, we've been at racetracks our whole life. So, yeah. My dad got his boy, and that's for sure.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Because your sister... So, it was just the two of you.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And your sister is how much older than you?

 

DANICA PATRICK: She's younger. She's two years younger.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Two years younger.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And she was out there doing the thing?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah. Well, she was the one that wanted to do it.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh, wow.

 

DANICA PATRICK: And I've realized more so now that... I've realized now that I'm not really the one that always comes up with an idea to do something, but I'm always up for it. So, if somebody's like, "Hey, you want to go sky diving?" I'm like, "Well, I don't know. But maybe. Gosh, I probably should say yes." "Do you want to go horseback riding? I'll be like, "Sure, I guess." So, I'm kind of like, "Sure." And I don't want to get left out. And I don't have FOMO, but I feel like I don't like fear or complacency to play a role in growing and having experiences. And I know it's in those kinds of experiences that you make memories, and you expand your comfort zone, and you learn things that you love. So, I think being able to try everything... So, when I was a kid, I did volleyball, I did basketball, cheerleading, band, choir, track. I participated in everything school had to offer. So, I think that's just kind of the mindset, which is why probably racing came into it. 'Cause I was like, "Sure, let's do it." So, I just was like, I didn't want to get left out.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, tell us about the first time that you did the go-karts, I think it was more of a legit go-kart.

 

DANICA PATRICK: It was a real one to go on the racetrack, yeah, and my dad had finally got them built, and as I said, my sister and I were driving around my dad's building, he worked in construction and installed windows and stuff, so he lived in... His company was in a construction area. So, there was a big parking lot, and so we went out back to the parking lot, and they set up WD-40 cans and brake cleaner cans in a circle for my sister and I had to drive around the circle and drive the go-kart for the first time. And so, as we're going around the circle, we're inside of a... Inside of a construction company, so this is where you'll find dock, there are like trailer docks in the back where this parking lot is, and so there's also construction trailers as well. And so, I'm going around, going around, and all of a sudden, I go hit the brake and slow down, and there's a lever that goes from... Goes from the... A little box next to the seat and it goes straight through, straight forward to the brake pedal. It's a rod so that it's hooked up to the brake pedal itself, and so it will work the brakes through this box and go back. Anyway, the pin that hooks up the rod to the actual pedal came undone, so there was no brake anymore.

 

And so, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm 10 and I have no idea what to do." So, I just freaked out and went straight, and I was heading straight for a construction trailer that is about yay high, and I veered at the last second and went head on into a concrete wall. And my arms flew back, and I burnt my coat on the exhaust and I had bruises all over. And of course, my dad being the one that wants to make sure everything is the highest quality and best equipment, he's like, "Alright, well, we have to get a new go-kart now 'cause that's twisted." So, we just got another go-kart and put it together so that I would have a perfectly straight go-kart. Unfortunately, that go-kart then went to my mom, my mom started racing, so my mom and my sister and I all raced.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Holy moly.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah. She ended up racing.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, you got back in after this...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, oh yeah!

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: For your first time?

 

DANICA PATRICK: This was the first time. Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I was watching a little something about that story with my son. He’s 10, and I was like, "What did you notice about this?" And he was like, "She got back up and did it again, she even despite something bad happening, she got back in the seat and kept going." And that's such a great story for your life, like to kick things off. For a lot of people, me, I'd be, "I'm done! I'm never doing this again, are you kidding me? My coat's burnt, whatever, that's crazy." So already there's some kind of resilience there in you, and so you... What was it about racing that you kept persisting in that sport, particularly 'cause you just mentioned you did all this other stuff, and what was it about it for you that you decided to put more focus into it, to the degree that you ended up going to England and leaving the Midwest?

 

DANICA PATRICK: I think it played into an instant gratification kind of a sport, where it was tangible, lap time. Like you can go out and you do a 37.56 lap time, 37 seconds 56 tenths, and then you go out again and do a 37.32 and you're like, "Okay, a couple of tenths quicker." And then you can just keep getting better and keep getting better, and it was tangible. And then positions on the track too, so by halfway through my first season I couldn't... In the beginning, I couldn't keep up on the parade laps, my sister and I couldn't, and then by halfway through the season and I broke the track record, and I was winning races.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow, so this parlays itself into... It's a real dedication and your family supporting you in this to the degree, like this was something, I had no idea, and it's kind of unheard of, especially again, coming from a Midwest family, now you're going to leave your family, you're going by yourself?

 

DANICA PATRICK: I did, when I was 16.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Moving to the UK. What was that all about? First of all, why? Second of all, what was your experience like?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Well, I had met someone when I was 14 years old at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, that he was in this suite with this family that owned a race team, and he was British, and I just started asking a lot of questions. And a couple of years later, this group, this guy in the family contacted my parents and said, "Hey, we've been following your career, your daughter's career, and we'd like to have a conversation with you about next steps and helping her in her career." So, we almost didn't go, it was like a four hour drive each way from where we lived in Illinois to Indianapolis, and it was pouring down with rain that day. And we ended up going and having the meeting and turn around, drove home, and they presented the idea for me to go to England to race. And they said that I could learn more in England in one year than five years in the States. And that was just something that they said, at least that's how I remember it. Memory is what percent true at this point in time? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that was the gist of it, and so it was just an opportunity to progress and so I went over and did it. My parents were super sad, I think my mom cried a lot, but they were like, Man, we'd rather you go and have it be sad than not have the opportunity at all. So thankfully, my parents were really open about that, and allowed me.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: 'Cause I left junior year. It was halfway through junior year. So...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's huge.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I was actually gone... I actually really only went through sophomore year. Junior year I started, I went for a month, then I was gone in England for two months, and then I came back for a month. And so, I only went half of the first half. So yeah, that's maybe one of the best compliments. 'Cause I've written my intelligence off a lot because there's a lot of stuff that I don't know that maybe is classic stuff that you learn in school, like timelines of history and things like that, and I just... I didn't learn it, nor would it maybe stick, I don't know, and so I have dismissed myself and just said I'm not very smart. And I've learnt that that language is not very productive.

 

And I was... I remember one time I was having a conversation with somebody, and he was... He worked at CERN, the Collision... The atom... The proton, or electron collision machine in CERN, Switzerland. And so, he's like a scientist, and he asked me where I went to school 'cause we were having this intellectual conversation about reality and science and everything that he does. And I'm so curious, and such a learner. One of my favorite topics to dive into is quantum physics. So, he's like, "Man, where did you go to school?" And I was like, "Oh, I have GED. I went through sophomore year." He's like, "What?"

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, that's...

 

DANICA PATRICK: But anyway.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I mean, I don't think a lot of people know that as well. Because I think that... I noticed; the greatest intellectual skill is curiosity. And you have that.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Write that down.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It is so deep within you and your constant search and you questioning things. And I think that one of the best tools of somebody who's not just a great student or somebody who's intelligent, but a great teacher, is somebody that has a nice healthy amount of skepticism too.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I agree, it's a... I would call that open-mindedness. Skepticism pairs with open-mindedness to me, 'cause you're not sure, which means you're not committed, as opposed to being all in on something, and this is the way, and if you don't believe this, you're going to hell or if you do believe this, you're going to hell. Whatever the topic is, I think that skepticism implies open-mindedness.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I'm just going to tell you. I think that your experience in high school, or lack thereof, has been a massive advantage in your life. And this rings true because of the way that our education system is structured. Were you actually prepared for life? And in many instances, we know this. We have all this rote memorization, we have a lot of things that we're told we're told we're supposed to learn that doesn't actually apply to success in life or happiness or...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh, how much of high school do you use? I remember doing, I think it was probably algebra two. It was maybe sophomore year, and we had these things called proofs. And it was like something...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, I remember proofs. Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I never got one right. I never got one right. And I was an A, B student. I was like a... Even with being gone. 'Cause I was gone in school from 10 years old and I would miss 10 days, 20 days, 30 days 40 days, 50... I just kept missing more and more school to the point where I left. [chuckle] But I was a really easy A, B student, but I didn't understand that. And it's like, there's some stuff in school that's just pointless. When do you ever use that? Anyway, that's just a silly example, but there's a lot of stuff you don't use. There's some stuff you do, and I think that there is value in it, but I think that you've got me on to a topic that, I don't even have kids and I have a tremendous opinion on. I think that the curriculum is, most of it is pointless. I think the structure of it all, the age in which you go, the stringency of things. And kids are playful and want to climb trees when they're five and they have to sit on a rug in one spot and can't even go to the bathroom. It's like, I get that there needs to be some orderliness and respect and some kind of things, but I wonder if we go too early.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, and we leave...

 

DANICA PATRICK: And too long...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: We leave from that rug to a desk, and we start to get into an order and separation, and it's a...

 

DANICA PATRICK: I remember even in school, there was A, B. So, A, B classes meaning A you were smart, and the B classes were not as smart. I didn't even think anything out of then but imagine being a kid and being like, you're in the B-class.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, or worse. I have a mutual friend Lewis Howes, he was in special classes, "special” classes.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh, really, I didn't even know that.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, remedial... Well yes. So yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, and now he's written books and he interviews [laughter] brilliant people and has a super successful podcast himself.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: One of the smartest people I know but it's because... So, the bottom line is this. Is that the way that our system is structured now, it doesn't allow for your genius...? It doesn't allow for your unique gifts and talents to actually be expressed. It's this very cookie-cutter, uniformed thing, that you're supposed to know these things and be good at these things, if you don't, you're not smart. So, it's creating a system of intelligence that is very relegated to a certain, very, very isolated way of thinking.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Narrow. Narrow window of intelligence.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, it's very suppressive to creativity. Even in writing class. That's something where I loved writing. But I had a conflict with this one teacher in high school, because I'm willing to be more diverse in the way that I'm saying certain things. But that's because I had another teacher who was encouraging of that. And I'll never forget her, eighth grade Miss Blackmore. She published...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Shout out.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Shout out Miss Blackmore. She published a piece of my... I wrote a poem in the school newspaper. So, I'm just like, "Oh, I'm the... When it comes to this, I got bars. I have... " And then eventually, of course, that skill set, it's not necessarily honed in that setting because you don't have people who are paying attention to your uniqueness. But eventually, again, my last book is, it's a national bestseller. My previous book is translated in like 21 different countries and different languages.

 

DANICA PATRICK: So cool.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But it's picked up in this environment, but it could have got suppressed. And so, I wanted to bring this up because I think it's a wonderful advantage that you have. And so, you mentioned this, the framing and saying that to yourself for so long. Like, "I'm not smart because I've been... I have this GED." Or Whatever it is. But man, I really want to guide, and this is a part of even having you here, is to... Health is obviously massively important to me. But a reason that our health is so terrible is also tied to our education system. And our mental health. And not being able to understand how valuable we are. And how beautiful we are as people, so all of this stuff matters and then you're a walking example of what's possible that's not in this cookie cutter thing. So, you get to the UK and you're basically by yourself, in this racing world. What is lifelike? What did you have to learn? Were you...? Is cooking for yourself, or...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Sure.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: How did this all look?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Well, just to add on to what you were saying about intelligence and this narrow window that we're all graded on and judged, to some degree. I don't remember what they all are but if you probably look up the types of intelligence, there's a bunch of them. There's emotional intelligence, artistic intelligence. I'm sure there's mathematical intelligence, creative. There's all kinds of different kinds and so in school, I know there's subjects, but it's this... Generally speaking, it's like the... Like we said, the window is so narrow and some of them really don't get exercised and even tested or introduced, or cultivated, maybe at all, or very little.

 

So, I think anybody that feels like they're not smart, in some way, to explore the idea that you are, you just might not know which one you are. And to explore the ways that you feel like you feel comfortable and inspired and where you shine and where you have fun and where your kind of like drawn to. And you might just have a different kind of intelligence that's... If you cultivate that for yourself is just as valuable as another one of the intelligences. So, I just wanted to say that 'cause I think that's important for people.

 

So, I'm in England and I lived with... I lived with a girl and... I actually lived with two girls. I started off on a couch in the living room, it was a pull-out couch that turned into a bed, and my bag was underneath the staircase. And that's how it started. Eventually, I ended up moving into a shoe box of a room and it was a single bed, and the width of the bed was probably about as much width as there was next to the bed and around the end and that's it. It was stuffed in the corner, and it was so tiny. And then the next year, I ended up living with a family. I got in trouble for being... My managers heard that I was out and about partying and having too much fun in England, so they were going to pull the plug on everything. And there was all these new rules and were they right? Oh, on some levels, sure. I was 16, 17-years-old. I didn't have parents, I was hanging out with all the other drivers, and you can do whatever you want over in England, pretty much. Legal age is much younger and so some of it was true, but I wasn't as bad as anyone, but bad enough.

 

And this is why, this is an example of why you can't give anyone a reason. So, it's like you might be going to work and getting all your sh*t done, getting it all done. But if you show up late or you leave early or whatever, it's like, it's dings against you. And so, you just can't give them a reason. Now, if you want a promotion and you aren't following all the... You aren't following being a model employee and you want a promotion, there's probably some reasons even if you might be the best candidate. It's like don't give them a reason, and so I gave them a reason.

 

And so, when I went back the next year, I lived with a family. I lived in a bedroom that was next to the front door and it was in a little landing area where the... It was a big, open square area. And this family had two kids, and these kids would play soccer every morning and kick the ball into my door, didn't matter what time and... I'm sure it was six something. And that was painful, and I really couldn't do much and so I was kind of stuck there. And then the next year, so there's three years, I lived by myself, and so I got a little flat or whatever they're called and lived by myself so.

 

Then I learned how to cook, that's when I learned how to cook. And when you want to be healthy, too, you have to cook. You can't... It's pretty tough to eat out every day of your life and achieve results or the kind of health that you would want. And I think even more so now. Not only do we know about restaurants, whether it's serving size or how they prepare it, and the oils and the fats and salts and sugars and all the things that go into it that you don't know. And we're taking into consideration more so nowadays the sourcing. Is it organic? Is it grass-fed? Is it...? Is there anything humane about this? Is there anything natural? Is this coming from... Is my spinach grown by a light or was it actually grown by the sun? These are things that we care about more now, so I think you got to cook it. You got to be able to cook if you really, really want to achieve true health goals, I think. So, I learned how to cook 'cause I wanted to be healthy.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, it was in these years that you pick up this skill of cooking. So, what about today? Is this something that you still do?

 

DANICA PATRICK: I love cooking.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You love cooking.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I love cooking.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You put the "L" word on it.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I love cooking so much, it's creative. I'm sure there's a little bit of control just, I like to know what I'm eating. But in this day and age with the meal delivery services there are and things like that and... There's a lot better options. If I didn't like cooking, I would do that, right? But I truly love cooking. I don't get sick of it. Every now and again, I'm like I don't feel like cooking tonight but for the most part, I'm always ready to cook. Sometimes I also just think it's faster. Going out to eat takes a long time, and I can have my meal ready in 20 minutes. That's great. So anyway, I truly enjoy cooking.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. And that's another one of those misconceptions about cooking is that it's so time-intensive, there's all these different things, it doesn't have to be.

 

DANICA PATRICK: No, it doesn't have to be, and it can be very simple. Like the simplest... Yeah, you can just grill something up in a pan... On the grill, you could throw it in a pan, sauté it. You can throw stuff in a crock pot, that's the easiest way to just have like, want to have a lot of protein around just in the morning, throw something in a crock pot, eight or so hours later, I like the crock pot for a long time, it's ready. And then you just shred it up and you've got tender meat for tacos or a side or whatever you want. Those are ways that it can be very easy.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Have you used an instant pot? Do you have an instant pot?

 

DANICA PATRICK: I don't, I don't but they... I just saw a video that was like, "Guys, I don't really understand all... " I got an air fryer at one point. It's a lot of work and there's not a lot of space in there, and it's like, if I really want to air fry a lot of things, it's tray after tray. I saw that you can cook things in a couple of minutes in an instant pot.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. It's basically witchcraft and wizardry to make your food.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Kind of like a microwave used to be right?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's much cleaner, it's not... And all this radiation. However, it's just the way that it works is so mind-blowing. When you see how quickly stuff and it has... You would think like, you're going to lose something. You're going to lose a flavor dynamic; you're going to lose a texture dynamic. I haven't really noticed that.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Really? Like you can cook chicken in four minutes. Right?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, it's again...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Like chicken breast in a couple of minutes, or you can...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It was designed by...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Cook rice super quick.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It was designed by Gandalf.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Is he a brilliant guy? He must be.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: He's a wizard.

 

DANICA PATRICK: He's a wizard.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: From Lord of the Rings which you...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh, Gandalf, I never watched those.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Okay, so you're a Sci-fi person...

 

DANICA PATRICK: I know, I was just told...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But not fantasy.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I was just told, my boyfriend was like, "I can't believe that you haven't watched these you really like sci-fi stuff." He's like, "Lord of the Rings is that." and I'm like, "Alright, well, let's begin."

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Technically though it's more... There's the fantasy domain. You... I think you're still looking for a thread of realism maybe.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, perhaps.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: In it. You know what I mean? Yeah, but yeah, maybe Lord...

 

DANICA PATRICK: But there's a lot of truth in the...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, that's for sure, there's so much. There's so many life nuggets in Lord of the Rings, it's bananas. But I just wasted a perfectly good joke, with Gandalf, I there it out there.

 

DANICA PATRICK: On someone that hasn't... On someone that...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But people out there picked it up though. But yeah. So, I was going to say...

 

DANICA PATRICK: I'm sure. And they're judging me. Don't worry, they're not judging you. They're judging me. They're like, "She hasn't seen Lord of the Rings?"

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But I was actually going to pivot, I was going to say Harry Potter or whatever, 'cause you've lived in UK.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I haven't watched those either.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But I know you would know the name.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, of course. Of course.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: When you told me you lived in the UK and you got to a flat and the whole thing, I literally started having Harry Potter imagery in my mind, that's just how I work. But going back, when you talked about our education system, it brought up... There's this quote that's often attributed to Einstein, which so much of these quotes... Let's just be honest, we didn't hear him say it, so we don't really know where the quotes come from. But this is attributed to him, but I don't believe that it was him who said this, but it's a brilliant statement. He said that "Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

 

DANICA PATRICK: I ask perception, 'cause I think so many things boil down to perception. If you or, yeah... If all that fish knows is a tree and it can't get up it, well, you've got a pretty narrow perception. So that's just super... Our perception creates our reality, and we are in control of that. It's not easy. I'm not saying 'cause we're in control, it's easy. It's very hard, it's like the life... It's like the lesson of being a human. But it's totally possible.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But here's a thing too, and I... This is a remarkable thing about you as well. So of course, a lot of folks cognitively connect you with race car. But something that I've noticed that you've done is you put yourself in a lot of different environments, and even in the domain of race cars, you put yourself in a new environment. And this is the thing about that fish. It might think it's stupid because it can't climb this tree efficiently, but you put that fish in some water, it's on. But here's the thing, it might never get that exposure. And so, what I want and part of the mission of even doing this show is to give people different exposures, to encourage them to put themselves in different environments, because that's where your talent or your capacity or your gifts can be accessed. 'Cause a lot of stuff is dormant, you didn't know you would be good.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Call it activated, I think, right? 'Cause being dormant, it's not, not there, it's not like you have to... It's being activated. You then can...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Perfect.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Once you can understand how you feel doing things, then you understand more of who you are. It's like we don't live very easily in the space of awareness for our emotions and energy around things. And I've been guilty of this too. Try too hard, you force things. But what resonates with you, what feels easy, what flows smoothly and quickly is really meant for you. So maybe you've had things happen in your life where all of a sudden just boom, boom, boom, boom, things just start happening, and you've rolled out and you enjoy it, but it also moves really fast too. And so, I think people live in resistance a lot, and so...

 

So by trying things and having the opportunity then can feel what's in resonance because there's so much stuff that is dormant in there, and even if we look at the interpersonal relationship, whether it's your parents, kids, partners, sometimes friendships too... Somebody will do something and there'll be some out-of bounds response and it's a trigger, and we don't really see it as that we think it's them, and so life is trying to show us too, our resonance with stuff and show us what's dormant in us or what's activated in us too. So, it's like if you have a judgement on something and somebody does it and you have a reaction, it's like, "Whoa, what was that reaction about?" So, stuff is hidden in plain sight, it's... But the fact that it's in you and you can't see yourself that easily, life is just an experience of seeing yourself through other people. It's weird but it's true.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, yeah. And it's terrifying and beautiful as well, depending on your perception.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh my god, yeah, exactly. And it's like you can look at something as being a blessing that you got this lesson and you can move forward, or you can look at it as being a roadblock, or you can look at it as being something that you always deal with. You can identify, you can victimize yourself, and a lot of times it becomes your identity then, you're like the person who does this or always has this happen, and so if your perception is that that's true, well you're going to keep getting more of it.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, it's powerful because even in this moment, an example, I don't see you, I see my perception of you, and with that... But here's the beautiful part, and the thing about you that is remarkable that we all have this capacity is, because I'm aware of this, I'm opening myself because when we have this perception, we tend to get locked into it versus me being open to you being something different than what I'm perceiving you to be. And it's just like that creates this endless opportunity for connection, for admiration and all the good qualities that we connect to.

 

DANICA PATRICK: We can see it in ourselves, right? So, whatever you're seeing in me is in you, otherwise you can't see it.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's some deep stuff, come on. I'm going to give you some snaps for that.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Cause that's why people get taken advantage of because they're not a manipulator, so they get manipulated. A manipulator knows when they're getting manipulated usually, so it's like if you're not a narcissist and you are spending time with a narcissist, you don't know they are because it's not in you. You don't have the patterns, and so... But also on the other side, which is the positive side, is that when you look at someone, you're like, "Wow, they're just really kind", you have that in you, that's a strong aspect of you or... You know what I mean? It's constantly showing... We're constantly seeing ourself, and I think that we can turn that ship, it can go from the... We can be in a negative space where you see negative things and that might be really how you're looking at yourself, and then you can turn that ship too, it doesn't always... It's not set in stone.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow, this also reminds me. Yesterday, I was talking to my son. I teach him on a couple days a week, nutrition, and anatomy, and so we had just finished class and he said something crazy... I was teaching him class, we were on our roof yesterday, so was getting vitamin D and having our class and talking. But then it was like some little joke about him getting pushed off the roof or some kind of little... But it was a funny little thing, but then he was like, "That would never happen. Nobody would push me", whatever, I'm just like B...

 

DANICA PATRICK: 'Cause he would never push someone.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes, and also, I was like, we all have the capacity for the most terrible things, but we also have the capacity for the most beautiful things. We've got to understand that all of this exists within us, that recognition though is where you live. What are you most attuned to, is what you'll tend to see in others? You've got to understand, even when you mentioned that, the narcissism, that's such a great example of why you can't pick that up, but at some point, you have to learn that skill or it'll keep happening and you're like, you can recognize the pattern, which you can decide, and I want to ask you about this about contrast and understanding what you don't want.

 

DANICA PATRICK: You know more what you do want... I mean if Abraham Hicks hasn't said that a million times... Have you ever listened to any of those?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Of course.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I love Abraham Hicks.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Dabbled in a little.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Contrast when you know what you don't want, you know more of what you do want, and you keep filling in your grid for the future of bringing that thing to you. True.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. Absolutely, it is.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Contrast is important. And that's the experience of being alive in this reality too, is when you have something negative happen, you can recognize the positive, same thing as when you have something really positive happen, you can recognize the negative. And so, you can sift through using literally the words that Abraham Hicks would say, but you're sifting through contrast and you're starting... You get better and better at it, and you weed away the things that you don't want over and over and over again, and you continue to narrow and narrow down to a reality that feels better more of the time than it used to. I think. I hope.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Fingers crossed. I want to go back to, because I'm curious about this... Who on earth...? I think I might actually know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask you since I have you here, which is just so awesome. So, you had this experience in England, which is just like a one in a billion-type scenario. Of course, the Captain Obvious, not only are you plucking yourself from conventional education here in the United States, and you're in another country, but you’re also a lady... which is very unique in this particular sport, but from that experience, you come back home, I would imagine your personality has probably shifted, you probably have different things going on mentally, when you came back, how did you get from there to getting your behind into an Indycar?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Well, I came back different for sure. I came back cold, my family and my parents were like, "God, you're just so different, you're cold now." And I had probably an accent.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: A little dabble.

 

DANICA PATRICK: "Cheerio!" I asked a lot of questions instead of making statements. Everything's a question. Very British, "You're alright. You're alright, aren't you?" You're like, "That's alright, isn't it?" It's always a question. But anyway, I came back much colder because of life experiences, you open up to people and they don't reciprocate, or they throw you under the bus, or they make your life difficult, and it's not as respectful and it's not reciprocal experiences. So, I came down... I came back much more shut down and cold and I was 19, and I came back partway through a season. I never had done this before, but my sister was with me, thankfully, and my manager said, "Don't go to the track, we're going to bring you home." 'Cause I just wasn't getting the right treatment, I wasn't getting the right equipment, and so they're like, "Well, you're going to come back." And so, I didn't show up at the track, and then I ended up flying back home, moving back home, and then my dad and I just started going to IndyCar races and walking around talking to race teams, and not in Indycar, but the lower level, there was Formula Atlantic, and there was also Indy Lights then. And so going around to those teams and seeing if they would even just test me in a car and nobody wanted to.

 

And then finally, I went to the IndyCar races in Milwaukee, which was only within an hour of our house, and similar to that pivotal point in time when my dad and I decided to go down to Indianapolis for the meeting with the family that wanted to help me go to England, I almost didn't want to go to the track that day, I was over it, I was like, "Dad, we pound the pavement and walk around and nobody wants to help us, nobody wants to do anything. I'm sick of it." And he's like, "Let's just go, let's just go for 45 minutes and we'll turn around and we'll come home." I'm like, "Fine." So, we go. And I had a call from someone that week that was a really odd, just coincidental, bit of information where somebody said that if there was a race team for me in the Formula Atlantic Series, that there was a sponsor that would be willing to sponsor it, so I went to the track and I saw my old friend, Bobby Rahal, who I met in England, because he was running a Formula One team for a while.

 

And so we went to, I think a TGI Fridays in Milton Keynes where we lived and caught up and became friends and anyway, I only saw him a couple of times, but being American, you already have that built in friendship, and so I come back and he had come back as well, he wasn't running the Formula One team anymore, and I saw him at the race track and I was like, "Hey, Bobby, apparently there's a sponsor that's willing to pay for this, if there's a letter of intent that you're going to start a Formula Atlantic team for me." And he said, "Okay, let's do it." And I was like, "Okay." And two weeks later at Laguna Seca, the next Indy car race, we had a press conference and signed the letter of intent in front of everybody else, and in front of the media and off to the races, and so...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Literally.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah. And so, in 2003 and four, race Atlantic, and then 2004 in May, which was the beginning of the season, the seasons and racing start around February, March-ish time, so this is May, and I'm barely into my second season in Atlantic, I'm standing there watching media day at the Indy 500, just watching 'cause I'm a Formula Atlantic driver, I'm not an Indy car driver. And at the front of the room during the media day, Bobby says that I'm going to race in the Indy 500 in full-time IndyCar next year and I didn't even get that memo. I was like, "Oh my God!" And so, I don't know how that all... I actually really should ask him how that all transpired and how... We've talked... We're still friends, so I should ask him how that all happened, 'cause I don't remember getting the memo that I was going to be racing Indy cars the next year, but that's how I found out. And so, the next year, I raced IndyCar, and then I almost won the Indy 500 one year later.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That was bananas, that's when everything went to astronomical levels. This is obviously the biggest race in the world in that sport, and your rookie season, you are really right there to win this thing, and it's riveting, the crowd is going nuts, everybody's acting different than they usually act because of your circumstances. This isn't supposed to happen in so many different ways, and so all the qualities that make you who you are put you in that position to do that thing, despite all the pressures, despite all of the seeming advantages that other people might have, even your story and getting there to that moment. And literally coming down to the wire, of you wanting to just throw the whole thing away is so remarkable, you weren't picked as like, "This person's going to be the next... "

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh, no.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so, when that took place and you ended up getting fourth, which is just... That's... In it of itself that nobody would have ever thought anything like that. I know, even as I'm talking to you, I know you, of course, wanted to win, I know that, and it was really, really close, obviously, but when that happened, the sport changed, you brought in, you were... I don't want to give analogies, but it's like a Tiger Woods type moment of you bringing all these people who don't pay attention to the sport are paying attention to the sport now.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, it was so interesting, so cool to be able to re-experience it. If I could plug myself back in into 2005 and that all happened and be able to feel it and see what was all going on, but with these eyes and this experience now, it'll probably blow me away.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, from that point, obviously, there's an expectation now. Now seeing what you can actually do against the world's best, and you being in that guild, what did you do that was... This was Japan when something really remarkable happened. How long was it from that moment until Japan took place? And what was it like getting to it.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Three years.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Three years?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah. It took three years and... Yeah. The first Japan that I went to, which was the race before the Indy 500 in 2005, which was my first year, I qualified on the front row. I finished fourth. And then there was... I had a bunch of holes that first year of my IndyCar career. Yeah, there was chances, and it just didn't happen. And so finally in 2008, it did. A driver told me, "You're going to be doing the same thing that you do every day. You're going to just be doing the same old thing, and then all of a sudden you're just going to win." and I'm like, "Okay." And that's what happened. Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, this is where I think a lot of people cognitively... I don't know if you've ever thought about this, some people just connect you to NASCAR.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Of course. Yeah. Yeah, I'm more IndyCar than I even was NASCAR though. I raced IndyCar for... I raced open-wheel cars all the way until NASCAR. I started doing a little bit of NASCAR in 2010 and '11, and then... But still full-time IndyCar. And then I did full-time NASCAR starting in 2012. And the first full Cup year was '13. Which is when I started at... Which was... Then that was cool, that kicked off with qualifying on the poll for the Daytona 500 and so... Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And was that your first or second year?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Well, it was my first full-time year. I had done...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Crazy. Listen.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: How, that transition from IndyCar to NASCAR.

 

DANICA PATRICK: It was totally different too.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You had never driven a NASCAR type car, right?

 

DANICA PATRICK: No. No.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: What the... How, who are you? That's crazy.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Maybe to kind of encapsulate, who am I and what drives me and even why I retired, and even going back to the very beginning with go-karts and telling the story about racing and having it be an instant gratification thing and being able to have lap times, I always liked the process. The mug that you got me. And I didn't realize it as much, I wasn't as aware that I loved the process that much, but I really loved the process, and I loved the hope of having a better race the next race or the next year. Yeah, whatever formula I was in whether IndyCar and NASCAR, it was the hope of doing better. The hope... The process of learning something new. The experience of it. As painful as it is sometimes, through pain comes growth and my life mission is to grow and to help people who want to do the same thing. And so, I ended up just feeling like at the end, why I retired, a big part of it, was just I didn't feel like I had hope for the next year. The team I was with was not going to have me back because there was a sponsorship issue and I was like, "Man, I just don't want to go to a lesser team and I just...

 

I want to be able to do well. I would rather get paid less and go to a better team than get paid more and go to a lesser team." It was always about just being able to have progress and hope. So that's how it's always been for me with everything. It's like once something feels stagnant or there's no more hope anymore, it's like, "What's the point?" It doesn't matter what facet of life you're looking at, What's the point?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Through this process, this process in which... The mug that I got you, what does it say?

 

DANICA PATRICK: So, I thought it's about the process. Isn't it saying? I looked at it real quick, is that what it says?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, this is... I don't remember what it says.

 

DANICA PATRICK: It's right there.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's right there. Can you get it?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, yeah go grab it. It's underneath, you can just move my jacket. Yeah, bring it on.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I just had a brain fart which is super rare.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Enjoy the journey.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Enjoy the journey.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Enjoy the journey.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's why I was like, did it say Enjoy the process...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Process, but this is to me like enjoy the journey is just like the process. The process of life is the journey. So long as your destination oriented, you're never going to get there. Because again, in Abraham Hicks voice like, "You're never going to get there. And it's never done." So having a destination... Having goals is great but don't forget to enjoy the journey. Enjoy the process. It's the learning, the achieving 'cause there's always high points too. And understand that it's just all part of it.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So coincidentally you collect mugs. Apparently...

 

DANICA PATRICK: I do, you are right on.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's one of the things that you like.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I love that you knew that. And it's kind of symbolic because I love that process and I love the journey of life, and it says the cup says... The mug says, Enjoy the journey. And that's so true. People that get associated with the destination, it's always elusive. It's the dangling carrot that you can never reach 'cause it'll always be something else. And it's great to have goals and that's super important. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have things that you want and aspire to, but if you can't enjoy the process and the journey along the way, then your life is going to merely be that arduous, painful lack. It's like a lack mindset 'cause you don't have it. That gets to more of the energy and frequency thing of life, is that when you want something so badly, there's the energy of not having it there. And that's not in resonance, 'cause it is. In the quantum field it's out there. It's out there waiting for you.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, yeah. Contrary to popular belief the achievement of a goal can actually bring about depression because the process is now gone, but then the other side of depression could look like they're not moving towards a goal because they feel the goal is unattainable or the connection isn't there, whatever the case might be. So the joy or the growth, the anti-depression exists in the middle where you have something you're striving towards, but understanding that it's a continuous process, because once you achieve said thing, and you could ask so many people that people look towards, "their life, if I only had whatever it is," once they achieve that thing, the pinnacle of whatever it was, they experience a lull. There's a dip in their emotional fortitude because that striving is now complete. And so, I think a gift that we can give our children, that we can give future generations, even ourselves today, is understanding that you never arrive, it's just this kind of strange thing... It's because of movies, happily ever after, after this thing happens. But in reality, attaching yourself to something or to a mindset that you always proactively choose growth. Proactively choose something that you're working on. Have your goals, like you said, I love that you said that it's great to have goals, but understand that this goal is just... That's a launching pad to the next thing.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Sure, it's just an idea.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. So, I want to ask you about this. What do you think about...? So first, I'm going to ask this, what is your favorite racing movie?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Days of Thunder.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Days of Thunder?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: My guy, Tom Cruise. Alright, now, full confession, I've watched probably every Tom Cruise movie, even The Outsiders, people don't even know about that.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I don't even know about that.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, this is when he was super young, it's based on the book. I even watched Jack Reacher like this weekend.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Wow! You're a big fan.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Alright? But I've never seen Days of Thunder.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh my God, you have to see it!

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Like every movie, I've seen...

 

DANICA PATRICK: It's so great.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Probably all of them.

 

DANICA PATRICK: It's a great movie!

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I mean, yeah. And then, Talladega Nights is really funny too.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Ricky Bobby.

 

DANICA PATRICK: And there's some truth to it too.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Which part, the cougar part?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, probably... No.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Getting in the car with the cougar?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Not the cougar, I thought you meant girls. Aw, man.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But part of it, he became afraid to get into the car.

 

DANICA PATRICK: That's true.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so, his dad, which is... The guy who plays his dad in that movie, I would see him at the gym all the time prior to everything getting shut down, he was just walking around the gym... I've been in gyms literally all over the world, seen all kinds of people, but it is very rare to see a person who is just smiling all the time.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh really? So, he's a really happy person?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: He's just walking around smiling.

 

DANICA PATRICK: And he had to play a miserable drunk guy?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right.

 

DANICA PATRICK: That's not him! Great job!

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right? It's amazing acting! But he's got his headphones on, he's just got this... It didn't seem like a manufactured smile, just this very subtle smile on his face walking around. And he's also in Office Space like, "Yeah, I'm going to need you to come in on... "

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, "I'm going to need you to come in on Saturday, you know what? I think I'm going to need you to come in on Sunday."

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, that's the guy.

 

DANICA PATRICK: "Okay? Okay." That's a great movie too.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Brilliant. And also... So, in that scene, Ricky Bobby is afraid to get into the car, so he throws the cougar in the car, a live cougar, and he's just like, if you... You got to be able to wrestle with that fear, you get in there and you're calm, cool, it's all going to work out, but it didn't work out like that for him at that point in the movie.

 

DANICA PATRICK: No.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, yeah. So, you said some parts are true...

 

DANICA PATRICK: One is perception of change, where if you can get in with the cougar, you can go out there by yourself on the track. It kind of worked, though, I think.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: He got back out there.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Eventually, after he got mauled by the cougar.

 

DANICA PATRICK: In the "Me" car.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. So, you said that there's some truth in Ricky Bobby's ballad, the ballad of Ricky Bobby. Like what?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh sure. Like, I mean... Fancy ladies at the track, and I don't know if one swaps one for another, maybe it will happen, maybe... I'm sure that's happened, but...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Is there any Shake N Bake action on the track?

 

DANICA PATRICK: There used to be, used to be some Shake N Bake action. It was back when they repaved Daytona, and it was so fast, and all the cars were glued to the ground, and you could do anything out there. And so, there was a phase of bump drafting. So, cars would link up, and so in the front of the car is a grill and it goes to the radiator, keeps things cool. So, you'd keep the grill open on the right side so that you could get enough air flow and you drive behind the car... You drive behind the car in front of you, locked into their bumper, pushing them, and have your right side peeked out so that you could keep the engine cool, the more and straight in line you are, the faster you'll go, because you have multiple horsepower, you have both of your engines, but one car doesn't have any drag from the air, so it's like boost, the whole thing. And so, then you'd practice swapping in practice and being really efficient with that, 'cause you'd basically have a tandem partner. So, you had a Shake N Bake partner. We did that for a little while. Then it became illegal 'cause people didn't like watching it.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Holy moly. Holy moly.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, that was a weird phase. I just want you guys to know that it feels like maybe you're going to hit the car in front of you or beside you or a wall, but I'm here to tell you that when we were bump drafting, you felt like you were literally driving underneath the car, you were so far up their a**. It was... That's how close it has to visually look for you to be touching them.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's nuts. And at what speed are you going?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Two hundred... And some, 220. I don't know. I don't know.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's bananas. Alright, so.

 

DANICA PATRICK: The only place I we ever used speed really was at the Indy 500. And you just go off of averages, it'd be like a 230 average or a 236 average. Or a 228 average or whatever. That's the only time we used it, but we weren't even using peak speed, we were using average speed at the lap.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Okay. Alright. Now let me give you this in context. I think there have been a nice percentage of folks who've gone 100 miles an hour, right.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, I'm sure.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Which is... It feels pretty freaking fast. Now double that!

 

DANICA PATRICK: Double that and then bump draft and then worry about people around you. Oh, yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: It's bananas.

 

DANICA PATRICK: It was like a chaotic ballet out there. You're artistically flowing through, 'cause you've got someone behind, you can't make your own moves, you're with someone, and you just have to weave your way through it all. It was a very interesting time.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Have you ever had... Obviously, things are happening incredibly fast, but one of the qualities that probably is required is a sense of presence.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I would imagine things are much slower for you than somebody else who would be thrust into that situation. So, have things ever slowed down for you in these moments?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Crashes. Crashes always did. There's some things in life we can all experience that all of a sudden, there's a sort of transcendence of time where it doesn't seem to be linear anymore. It's like I feel like it took forever. And crashes were one of them where you saw something kind of coming and happening and you got, "Woah, God." And then you start losing it and you're spinning. And I always had a thought, I was at the same thought, and that thought was, "This is going to hurt." And you just kind of like close your eyes and tuck up and wait for it to slow down and be over, and yeah. But when you watch it on... You watch it on film and it's like...

 

DANICA PATRICK: And you're like, "Oh." So...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Things would slow down in a wreck.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That sounds like... That literally sounds like a movie where you go put in the slow motion.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: There's...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Unconsciousness is interesting.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: There's this quote that I saw that you had in your home. It was like... I think it was maybe a piece of art or something like that. And it said that, "If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough."

 

DANICA PATRICK: Not big enough. Yeah, my mom got that for me, actually. This is in my little yoga room back in North Carolina. And I... It's true, I think that... I've always been a firm believer of dreaming as big as possible. Just as big as possible. Even if you don't even think it's possible. If you don't think it's possible but dream into it. Right? Like I want to be an astronaut and I want to go land on Mars. Right? Just come up with anything. Whatever feels like, "Man, that would be amazing." Make it feel fun, be like a kid about it. Yeah, because if you fall short then... Which we have these dreams and aspirations and if they're big enough, you might achieve them, but if you don't, probably still kicked ass.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Right?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, absolutely. It's going to require so much growth.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Just moving in that direction. That's what people really miss out on, like just start doing the thing, start going in that direction.

 

DANICA PATRICK: How about to just even know what you want to do.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow, yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I think most people don't even know what they'd want to do, if they could do anything, being truly pragmatic about it and intentional with thinking, and with visualizing and answering that question. I think a lot of people don't have an answer. They might be like, "Oh man, I'd be... I might go to the beach and lay there." They might have some flippant answer, but truly... What would you do if you could do anything?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Let's talk about the importance of clarity, because I also noted that you watched The Secret before you won that race in Japan.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I did. Ain't that crazy? Yeah, I ended up interviewing Rhonda too, which was really fun. She's so spiritual and so tapped in and interesting, and yeah. Rhonda Byrne, she was really cool. So...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I mean, what are the odds of that though? You watch that...

 

DANICA PATRICK: I know.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And then you win in Japan after three years.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I know. Visualizing it and creating it. Again, I love quantum physics, so the idea... And its love attraction, so it's the idea of knowing what you want, asking for what you want, visualizing what you want, creating the feeling inside of your body of getting it, and then, which is part of the visualization, and then there's an energetic cord attached to it. And so, now, it's just a matter of time. And so, there's two parts that are hard, one is truly believing it. Right? I think that's actually probably one of the hardest parts. And then the magic of sort of putting yourself there, imagining it has happened or has come to you. That's hard too, because that gets down to some worthiness stuff, and some good enough stuff, and some deserving and truly believing, 'cause it's like it gets hard to visualize stuff that you want if you don't think it's going to come.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: So, you got to believe it. It's really the magic sauce, in my opinion. And not the believing visually... The universe isn't responding to our words, it's responding to our emotions and our truth and what we really believe. So, you can say like... I could say all day, "I'm going to go dunk a basketball. Oh yeah, I'm going to go dunk a basket... " For those who don't know, I'm five foot and a half. "I'm going to go dunk a basketball." I know, I can't dunk a basketball. Right?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: But even if that is your... You're so focused on; this is what I've seen to be true. Which you're right, for sure. Is that something... It'll be a different variation of that, that will show up in your life. So, an example is, like... I'm thinking in basketball is Tim Grover, who was a personal trainer for Kobe Bryant, for Michael Jordan, for Dwayne Wade. He had aspirations of playing in the NBA, the whole thing, but with that intention in his goal, he kept moving forward and ended up in the NBA, but in the form of training the greatest players in the world.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Right? So just like it might show up in a different variation that can all be of all and revelation, and surprise, and beauty. So, what might happen is, you might have this vision of you dunking the basketball, and then we walk outside and somebody's rolling into the office next door, a little door hoop, and we're just like, "We were just talking about basketball."

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah. I know.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Alley-oop.

 

DANICA PATRICK: That's right. That stuff does happen. I mean, that's where having goals is important, but you kind of alluded to it earlier, but understand that it can come in different ways, and it's not always... This is important to not get too attached to those outcomes. I think The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success is a great one by Deepak Chopra just to line out those things, which is, don't be attached to outcomes, because that creates an expectation level, you could be disappointed. So, setting intentions, but then letting it go and understanding that maybe the universe has a better plan or maybe there's just something that will fit better with you. I don't care. God, whatever word you want to use, universe, God, source... Magic in life, I don't know, whatever you want to say that makes sense to you and feels like it resonates with you, but just trust that you don't have all the answers. That you are the dreamer. Thoughts become things.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Got a quick break coming up, we'll be right back. Very often, it's the small things that can make the greatest impact. Archimedes said, "If you give me a lever and a place to stand, I can move the world." It's all about leverage, it's all about positionality. And the same thing holds true when it comes to human health and performance, it is truly honoring the things that give us the greatest leverage. No process can happen in the human body without this remarkable sodium-potassium pump. This exchange helps our mitochondria to create fuel, this exchange helps our heart to beat, this exchange helps all of our brain cells to communicate, nothing is taking place without electrolytes. Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electric charge. And also, we've got mountains of peer-reviewed evidence as to their efficacy with every single area of human health. For example, our cognitive ability depends mightily on the function of electrolytes. Take sodium, for example. Not only is sodium required to help to maintain fluid balance in your brain itself. A study conducted by researchers at McGill University found out that sodium functions as a literal on-off switch in the brain for specific neurotransmitters that support optimal function and protect the brain against numerous diseases like epilepsy, like neuropathic pain. How simple, how foundational, how much leverage we can get from making sure that we're getting adequate amounts of the right type of sodium.

 

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There's something... I want to have this conversation because one of the things that I know is that, even myself, we have no idea of how powerful we are.

 

DANICA PATRICK: True.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: There's levels to it. And for everybody listening, I really want them to start to step into and really understand how powerful you are to create your reality. And these principles, again, it can sound for some people very hopeful, for some people is very obvious and it's based on some pretty sound science. For some people it can sound totally ridiculous that you're attracting things into your life or whatever the framing is. And so, I'll tell you right now, when I watched the film, I lived in Ferguson, Missouri. My mattress was on the floor. I was barely making ends meet. I was a college student, I was just about to graduate, and I see this, and I immediately am filled with ideas. I started mapping out, okay, well, maybe I'll open a gym, or I'll create a T-shirt company or whatever. I just started creating stuff, I felt very inspired. And cut to today, many of the people who are in the film are my friends. Michael Beckwith is my guy, he just texted me before the show started.

 

Of the film, he resonated with me the most. I saw more of myself in him. What are the odds that somebody in Ferguson, Missouri...? Now, he's over in my house all the time. There's like millions of people that are vying for his attention. There's something about me that connected with him as well. And even for us to meet was under the most remarkable circumstances. We didn't meet here in a United States...

 

DANICA PATRICK: How did you meet?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: We met in Portugal. That is like, come on. Bob Proctor. Lisa Nichols. I've done so many things for her, for her different events as well. I've had her on several times as well. She flew to St. Louis to see me. Because... It's nuts. John Grey. Who else? Jack Canfield. Of course, it's creating something for that to come into your life. Like I created this platform, and I did what was necessary to become the type of person that can have these relationships. Coming from where I come from, to be in that position, it is a part of it, but what tends to happen is like we think it's the person. It's just that person is just, "I'm this way." Like, Shawn already had whatever. No, no, no. I was lost in the sauce, I was not okay. But at that point I had...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Thanks for sharing that too. I think that's important stuff for people, being vulnerable.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you, but I think the biggest quality that I had at that time was a willingness, which is just going back to what you were saying, the process. And I was just moving. I started doing things. And it suddenly moved me in the right direction. But I asked Michael Beckwith, he was sitting right there in that chair about when bad things happen, especially to good people. Like, do we attract these things? It sounds terrible. And he immediately was like, "We've got to understand that there's something bigger than all of this." And we don't know, this is the thing. I'm a very analytical person, I'm a scientist. That the most remarkable thing about us, we know nothing about really, which is we have a sole assignment, is what he said. And we're coming here and we're into certain conditions, it's a one in a billion chance that you were born, let alone to these particular parents at this particular part of the globe and all these things, and you're born into these conditions that are going to warrant certain qualities to emerge in you.

 

Bad things are going to happen that qualify you to be the person that you can become. And so, for me, now I can see it. Even when something, what I'll refer to as negative happens, I'm just like, "What is it for me? How did I attract this situation? What do I need to learn from this situation? What gift is in this?"

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yes, there it is, exactly. 'Cause of course, the first reaction is like, sh*t. The first reaction of negative things can be that way, but I think the wisdom is how quick can you turn it? How quick can you turn that into a positive and into an opportunity. And when you deal with difficult things, there's always an opportunity to grow and learn something. Even at a minimum, there's that and perception, back to the beginning.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Back to the beginning.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Back to the beginning.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And also puts the power in our hands too, when a negative thing does happen or that happened prior to you being aware of these things, whether it is... I've been through it, I've been through it all, the abuse, the poverty, whatever the case might be. And it's not, again, like you're consciously attracting these bad things, it's when I realized that I have a role in it, I understand that I don't have to carry that, I can change, I can understand the contrast, I got a great example of how not to be a father. And so, now I'm going to choose this. And so just embracing some of these tenets that are happening, whether you like it or not, is that the power is really in your hand to change and...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Well, you said it, we know so much less about ourselves than we know. We didn't even understand how the brain works. We don't understand consciousness, we don't understand why we know we're having thoughts, there's obviously something above our thoughts, 'cause we know we're having thoughts, and thinking. It's like a fish doesn't know it's an ocean 'cause it's just... Or a fish, it just is, right? We know we have thoughts, it's like there's so much, so much. We have junk DNA, what's that? We have...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Black matter, dark matter, what is that? We don't... That's all. We just give it a title.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: We think because it has a title, it is something, it's 'cause we don't know, there's so much stuff we don't know. I heard someone say, "I do a lot of spiritual stuff and take trips and have a lot of friends in this space," and one of the things that was said was like, "Don't... It's okay to expect magic." I think people get a little shocked by that, but expecting magic is kind of the way it's supposed to go. Maybe that's the way it used to go. I went to Egypt last year and I'm like, "I think there was a lot more magic back in those days," magic as in, I would call magical very much just stuff that science can't prove. But then again, it's a whole lot of stuff we can't prove, so why not just add to the list?

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's facts. What bakes my noodle, what I was going to say is that, just seeing the observable universe, the observable universe, because we can't even observe the vast majority of it, but the observable universe has billions of galaxies.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh my God, we're in one. We don't even know. There are so many different concepts about that. There's a concept of the multiverse, of having universes that are like bubbles, that's how they're represented in a photo, is like, there's different universes, there's galaxies within the universe. It just blows your mind. I just love... I remember being a kid and looking up to the stars at night and just getting a headache thinking, "It goes on forever, but then at the end of forever there's no end, it's more. I can't understand this." So, yeah, it's always my fascination, I love learning about that stuff.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. It's so cool we're a part of it. Because we're a part of it we're connected to all of it.

 

DANICA PATRICK: I know, right? And that's why, somebody... Some people are more connected things than others, are more tapped into the feeling, but that's why somebody that you don't even know can get hurt, but you care, 'cause you're connected. Neighborhood used to be a ton of trees and it's cut down for a tract neighborhood to go in and you're like, "Oh man, that's a bummer." Why would you care? It has nothing to do with you, except it does. And we're connected to everything. And that's also why, when you get into more of those spiritual spaces and working with energy in the universe, people that can tap into frequencies, they can tap into the Akashic records, they can tap into past souls. I interviewed Theresa Caputo, the Long Island Medium, and just hearing her do that, and I've talked to many different people like that, just different energies and frequencies going on, and once you know that even just from a pure awareness standpoint for us, our vision and our hearing is like, at this like, "This is how much we can hear and see," we hear and see about that much of the spectrum, that's a spectrum we know about.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. And you just mentioned interviewing because you have your own show now...

 

DANICA PATRICK: I do.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: And you've already... You've had some incredible guests and incredible episodes.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah. Had you on.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh yeah, that's right. I qualify. That's so cool, and...

 

DANICA PATRICK: So fun. I love learning, it's the best way to learn. I'm already deep-diving on plenty of topics, so then when someone comes, someone that I don't know as much about, I just deep-dive on it or the subject that they're into and... It's so fun, so fun. It's such a great... You meet so many people, make so many friends, incredible networking, and then I just get to interview and talk to and become friends with people that I'm fascinated with, it's the best.

 

And educate people and have cool conversations and share experiences and... The whole point of the show for me is... It's so funny, just yesterday I had a big, we called it DPV Summit, so Danica Patrick Ventures. I have a bunch of different companies, and so we all came together for a summit, and I opened up and just thanked everyone for coming, and sounds formal, but they're all my friends, but of course you still say "Thank you for coming and... " At the end of, after expressing what I wanted to accomplish in the day was to remind them that they're part of something bigger, and that this isn't about me, this isn't about serving me, this is about serving everyone, all of my companies boil down to, and all the things that I do boil down to. Even at the end of my career in racing, I realized that inspiring people was important, and just being out there was enough for people, it was never enough for me, which is why I did more than just go out there and participate. But I want to continue to inspire when I was done, and so that's the core of it all, is opening people's minds up, we're not trying to tell you what to believe, I'm just trying to say maybe it could be different, or maybe it's not what you think.

 

And maybe this is possible, you think it's not, but maybe it is possible. And so, it's to kind of just fracture the mental landscape of how you think it is to other ways that it maybe could be and bringing the light in and showing more, is really the point of it. And it's the point of all my companies foundationally at the bottom, whether it's... I have two wines, Somnium, which is a Napa Valley wine that I started back in 2009 actually, Danica Rosé, which is French Rosé. Just launched a candle company called VOYANT, which is "the Seer," so it's all about... It's very intentional based on essential oils and flowers and certain smells and the nature of what they do. I learned a lot about that in Egypt. And the other facets, even I speak in engagements, I do a lot of speaking engagements, and so I just reminded them that it's not about how to make me money or make me successful, it's how to help people, that's the whole point. I've lost plenty of money and a lot of my businesses, it's not about making money, or I would have sold them all or not done them in the first place. I think that that's foundationally something that's really important to me, and so that's the answer to why I do the podcast, is I love just... I just want to open people's minds up.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. And the podcast is called Pretty Intense?

 

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, 'cause I've been described as pretty intense. I also had a book come out a couple of years back, called Pretty Intense. It has a workout program in it, it has recipes that I wrote and photographed. I photograph them even. And then there's a bunch of chapters just on mindfulness and how to... It's like grassroots of building a foundation of connection to yourself.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. And also, you can be pretty ambient and intense as well.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Maybe it's a double entendre.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Let's just... Yeah, double entendre... I'm a big fan of the entendre.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Oh, thanks.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah. So, I want everybody to check out your amazing podcast. And I love the name Danica Rosé. Danica is a great name for a wine, period.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Thanks. Thanks. I got to get my mom credit. She heard the name when she was like 15, and she always kept it to herself and thought, "I'm going to name my first girl Danica." And then there I came, like seven years later.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Wow, that's so cool. Your mom is pretty dope.

 

DANICA PATRICK: She is tough.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Even jumping in that car. And also, she does... She's also big into fitness as well.

 

DANICA PATRICK: She is. She's worked out with me. She's done the Pretty Intense workout program. Oh yeah, she's tough. She's gotten past cancer twice. My mom's a tough girl.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, amazing. Amazing. So, again, I want everybody to check out Pretty Intense. And of course, you could pick up the book by the same name.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Sure.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Anywhere else people can follow you, get more information, hang out?

 

DANICA PATRICK: VOYANT By Danica is the candles, somniumwine.com, or on Instagram, Danica Rosé as well. And really, if you just go to me, you'll see all the links for it in my Instagram, that's the most common way that I participate in social media.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Awesome. Well, this has been really, really dope hanging out with you and...

 

DANICA PATRICK: You, too. Thank you. You did your homework, thanks. You know a lot about my life.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: I think in all ways I can... It's really a joy, because we both talked about this, just being able to do this work and the wonderful relationships that come from it. And the thing... I noticed so many things about you, just getting into your world, you're low-key funny. There's so many...

 

DANICA PATRICK: Well, that's nice of you. I always want to be funny, but I'm not. I have a sister who's funny, a dad that's funny. I'm not funny. But I love that you said that. Thank you.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Thank you. That's so nice, even if I had just a chuckle every now and again...

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You see what I was... I knew even me saying that you're going to be like, "No, I don't know." But yeah, I found myself just laughing at certain little things. It's very subtle, like a subtle little bar you'll throw in there. And you're just very creative, you're very... The greatest, the biggest thing that I noticed, and we talked about, which is your curiosity. And I noticed that even in our conversation, before when I was on your show, just really asking thoughtful questions and just... You have this thread of just being an internal student. And those are my favorite kind of people.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Aw, thanks.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: You're amazing.

 

DANICA PATRICK: Thank you. It's really fun. I love meeting new people and sharing the stories and learning from people. I'm learning from you. Thank you.

 

SHAWN STEVENSON: Awesome. Well, everybody, Danica Patrick. Thank you so much for tuning into the show today, I hope you got a lot of value out of this. Remember, your perception is your reality. You're seeing through that amazing mind of yours, that amazing brain, those amazing optical receptors, pulling in data, and it's all getting filtered through your own personal tapestry, or patchwork quilt blanket of experiences to determine what your life is like, what life is like in general. Your perception about things will determine your reality. Now, this is incredibly empowering because we can perceive the world habitually as a constant threat, and we can live in a state of constant alarm, or... And I always remember this quote from Albert Einstein, it's really a driving tenet in my life, and to paraphrase it, it is that "The most important decision that you make in your lifetime, the most important decision that you make is whether you live in a friendly or a hostile universe." Again, attributed to a very, very smart man saying this is the most important decision that you make in your life, is determining what type of universe you exist in, one that is friendly, or one that is volatile.

 

And so, keeping this in mind, how are we perceiving our lives? How are we perceiving, especially right now during this turbulent time? Are we perceiving and noticing that life is just, right now it's very turbulent because it's growing, it's evolving, it's changing, it's presenting opportunity? Or is it just chaos and a mess and it's all bad? The opposite of what we say, it's all good, it's all bad. Is that the reality? Or is it the other side where we're experiencing, we're seeing this as a friendly universe and we're all loving, all knowing, all giving, there's this omniscient, omnipresent connectivity to everything? But even within that, we might miss on some of the struggles, we might miss out on some of the negative things that are taking place, and just kind of bypass and look past those things, "It's all good, it's all love," when in reality, it's offering an opportunity for service. We don't want to live into that other extreme necessarily, where our perception is that everything is all good and that's the only thing going on. I think that if we could strike a balance, especially during turbulent times to where we see the good that is there or that it's possible, and also acknowledge that yes, things are not always sunshine and rainbows, but they can come again.

 

All the rainfall that happens is going to present the opportunity for more rainbows. And so, I'm thinking about Rocky Balboa right now. I think this was like Rocky 5. There's like 10 Rockies out there now. He said that... He was talking to his son, having this conversation that the world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. And there's always been this consistent tenet of personal development in Sylvester Stallone's work, even in The Expendables, I suppose. But these messages where we can live in this tunnel vision that everything is just strictly this way, it's a black or white scenario. When for me, and what I want to impress upon you today is that there's a beautiful tapestry, and this is why our ancestors... There's always this tenet of... For example, the yin and yang. There's this tenet that there's this balance to the universe, this light and dark. And there's a little bit of dark in the light, and a little bit of light in the dark. And we all have the capacity for so much within us. But we get to decide. We get to decide our perception and what we're seeing, and we get to decide how we show up in the world, where we're acting from.

 

I think Danica is an example, an excellent example of being able to create your reality, to be able to see, to have a vision of something, to be able to take steps in that direction, to have the audacity to put yourself in conditions where it might be remarkably hostile and stressful, and allowing yourself to keep showing up and growing and developing the qualities necessary to really tap into the highest of your potential. If you got a lot of value out of this episode, please share it out with your friends and family. And you could tag me. I'm @shawnmodel on Instagram. And make sure to tag Danica Patrick as well. We've got some epic shows coming your way very, very soon, so make sure to stay tuned. Take care. Have an amazing day. I'll talk with you soon.

 

And for more after the show, make sure to head over to themodelhealthshow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes, you could find transcriptions, videos for each episode. And if you got a comment, you can leave me a comment there as well. And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome, and I appreciate that so much. And take care. I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.

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