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166. Dream a New Dream
52 Plays12 days ago
In this episode of the Sportlight Podcast, Shad Martin and Dustin Smith revisit a powerful lesson from Paralympian and former BYU football player Jeff Griffin. After a tragic accident ended Jeff’s dream of playing football, he learned that resilience is not always about refusing to quit—it is sometimes about having the courage to redirect your energy and dream a new dream. This episode is especially meaningful for athletes facing graduation, transition, disappointment, or the closing of a chapter.
Key Takeaways
- Resilience sometimes means redirecting, not quitting.
When one door closes, the challenge is to take the lessons, discipline, and strength you gained and put them toward something new. - Some dreams have a shelf life.
Athletic careers, seasons, and chapters eventually end, but the growth from them can last forever. - The lessons of sports are not reserved for stars.
Every athlete can learn discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, toughness, and how to pursue a worthy goal. - Don’t stop dreaming just because one dream ends.
A closed door may be the beginning of a better chapter. - Where your focus goes, your energy flows.
Part of maturity is deciding where your energy belongs next.
Chapter Timestamps
00:32:17 — Introduction to the Episode
Shad and Dustin introduce the format and the focus on powerful clips from past guests.
00:32:55 — Jeff Griffin’s Story
Shad introduces Jeff Griffin, a former BYU football player and Paralympian whose life changed after a 40-foot fall.
00:34:22 — When a Dream Ends
The discussion turns to athletes graduating or facing the end of their playing careers.
00:38:53 — Dreaming a New Dream
Shad introduces the central idea: resilience includes knowing when to dream a new dream.
00:39:35 — Is Redirecting the Same as Quitting?
Dustin reflects on the difference between quitting and moving on with purpose.
00:42:04 — Redirecting Energy
Shad explains that redirecting energy is different from giving up.
00:46:46 — Dreams Have a Shelf Life
Dustin shares that some goals are lifelong, while others are meant for a season.
00:49:22 — Lessons from Sports Continue After Sports End
Shad emphasizes that sports prepare athletes for future goals, even after their playing days are over.
00:51:12 — Living a Dream You Didn’t Know You Had
Shad shares Ammon Montenegro’s example of redirecting from football to cheer.
00:53:29 — Closed Doors Can Open Better Doors
Shad reflects on how Jeff Griffin may have done even greater things because of the door that closed.
00:55:24 — Asking, “What’s My New Dream?”
Shad shares a personal reflection about becoming an empty nester and redirecting energy in life.
00:56:09 — Final Thoughts
Dustin reminds listeners that yesterday’s dreams can prepare us for tomorrow’s greater purpose.
00:58:03 — Closing Message
Athletes are encouraged to get after it during the summer and, when needed, dream a new dream.
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Credits: Hosted by Shad Martin & Dustin Smith
Produced by E4A and IMAGINATE STUDIO
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and New Format
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast, where we explore essential principles that empower athletes to learn life's most valuable lessons through sports.
00:00:16
Speaker
Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Sportlight podcast. I'm Shad Martin. I'm here with Dustin. How's it going, Dustin? Good, Shad. Good to do this with you, man. Yeah, I'm excited for this one. We're doing a little format with some, not all of our podcasts, but with some of them, we're just leaning in a little bit more to something that was taught by one of our guests that in the moment of a conversation, it's It's just hard to say, let's settle there for a half an hour. you know yeah i i feel like there's a few clips that are so deep that we could mine a lot out of them. And this
Jeff Griffin's Inspiring Story
00:00:49
Speaker
is one of those. So you'll remember we did an interview with Jeff Griffin, a Paralympian, yeahp former BYU football player who between seasons was up on a ladder and painting a barn to earn a little extra money. And the scaffolding fell, the ladder fell.
00:01:08
Speaker
And he'll tell the story a little bit here in this clip. But but Jeff was left paralyzed from the waist down. And and he shared a concept that I think is really applicable right now. So when when people listen to this, right, you know, we're right at that time where in the next couple of weeks, kids are going to graduate and start summer. And some kids are completing classes.
00:01:33
Speaker
their athletic career. They aren't going on to college. You know, they've worked so hard and they've tried so hard to to be a successful high school athlete. And they probably dreamed of of playing in college. And now there's no opportunities for them.
00:01:50
Speaker
And maybe they were just not in the right place at the right time. Or maybe They just never quite had the physical attributes necessary to be a collegiate athlete.
Resilience and New Dreams
00:02:00
Speaker
So a door is closing in their life. And a lot of these young people maybe feel in some way like Jeff felt sitting there just laying in a pile of scaffolding and yeah and with a ladder and realizing my dream is over.
00:02:19
Speaker
yeah And Jeff teaches something here that I think is just... So powerful. So I want to listen to it with you and then ask you a few questions about it and talk about this concept of when, when we realize that a door is closing, a dream is over.
00:02:37
Speaker
What does resiliency look like? Yeah. And so, so here's Jeff Griffin, his friends call him Griff explaining that.
00:02:48
Speaker
I've been paralyzed from the waist down. I've been given a life sentence. I've been in a chair longer than I have been out of a chair. So in between seasons, I was up 40 feet and the scaffolding ladder that I was up on slipped out from underneath me and I came down um straight legged, stuck the lining perfect if I was a gymnast. I wasn't, I was a painter. And so my legs came up, my back came down and my L1 vertebrae exploded inside of me, leaving me paralyzed from waist down. My dreams of playing football,
Griffin's Acceptance and Message
00:03:22
Speaker
shattered. I played two downs in college, by the way. I played two downs. I got to taste the sweetness of success and and see how it would be like to be on the you know the college level and and be on the first team.
00:03:33
Speaker
But when I was a little kid, you know that was my dream. That was the song that sang to my soul. And and here's what I've learned. So here I am lying on my back and I and i have a decision that i have to make. Either I could get back up and dream new dreams or I could stay down.
00:03:47
Speaker
i Fortunately, I chose the latter and decided to dream new dreams. And in the process of sifting through my broken back and shattered dreams, I discovered some flecks of gold that helped me get to that level to where I became a collegiate athlete.
00:04:00
Speaker
It helped me get to that point where I was able to perform at a level that a lot of people weren't. And I discovered some flux of gold that helped me get to that point. and And one of those, one of those flux of gold is, is dreams. You got to have a dream. My dream of playing football was shattered, but here's the beauty of it. Shad, just because that dream was shattered and was taken away from me. It didn't mean that I couldn't stop dreaming.
00:04:26
Speaker
Good stuff, man. Really good stuff. And crazy story. I can't first time I heard that. Well, the second time I heard it when you, ah yeah we'd listen to it and I went back and listened to it another time. And I thought, man, how, what would I do if I fell off a ladder? Like your first instinct would be to land on your feet, right? Because the alternative, you know, you'd,
00:04:50
Speaker
You'd break your hip. You'd break your back. you'd if you land You wouldn't turn and land on your back. You wouldn't try to land on your hands. So of course, you try to land on your feet and somehow cushion the blow. And in him doing that, it shattered his spine.
00:05:07
Speaker
It crippled him, right? you got compressed in the middle. And like that
Redirecting Energy and Finding New Goals
00:05:11
Speaker
moment, flying in it dropping right there where he had to be just like, oh, no. There's not a... there's not a there's not an answer here, right? Like there isn't a good way that this ends. And then to be laying there and probably having that realization come really fast that my life will never be the same.
00:05:30
Speaker
Forget about football, just his life. But my guess is because of the time, the space that he was in at the time, his brain probably went immediately to, i'm not gonna be able play football, right? That was the most important thing on his mind. And, um, what about football and now what? And, and, uh,
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there, Shad. A lot. That was good. What a story. And and he followed his story since then. It's amazing what he's done with his life. It's so cool. and And he goes on there to tell the story, Dustin. Like everyone needs to go back and listen to that whole episode if you haven't already. it was one of the earlier ones we did. But to to realize he he had the realization there, I'm probably not going to walk again. I mean, he fell 40 feet, right? Yeah. so I can't feel my legs. I, I know what this means kind of a thing.
00:06:23
Speaker
i don't know that I'll ever be what I was before. And, and he's laying there hoping someone discovers him. And he talks about the, the ambulance ride and the excruciating pain and what doctors told him and how he responded to the doctors. I mean, it's, it's really, um a powerful episode, I think, but yeah, but this concept Dustin of,
00:06:48
Speaker
Part of resiliency is realizing when you need to dream a new dream. And
00:06:58
Speaker
sometimes we we get so much into telling people, don't quit, don't quit, don't you quit. you know Then it's like, what would you do? Like Jeff laying down there on the ground, like lean over him, like, you're still gonna play football, Jeff. You know, like you're not gonna, there's obviously a time for all of us. There's a reason why you and I still aren't playing baseball. Yeah.
00:07:20
Speaker
ah Right. So there's a time when that door closes. What are your thoughts about that concept of learning to dream a new dream?
00:07:33
Speaker
Well, I think the word quit we're We're programmed that that's a bad word, right? That you don't, you never quit. Don't quit. You're a quitter. Like that's all has a negative connotation to it. But so, you know, what, what yeah the word quit, I'm sure there's another synonym that sounds softer than quit. That means the same thing, but you know, cause we do need to move on from things. And does that mean we're a quitter because we left, you know, the something else we were doing before,
00:08:04
Speaker
Before we were super successful at that thing, we moved on from it. Is that because we gave up on it? We didn't give it enough time. We weren't patient enough. We didn't want to put in the extra work that it was going to take to get there.
00:08:18
Speaker
Therefore, we're a quitter. Or was it that the door was closed on this? I wasn't going anywhere down this road and and I needed to you know, change directions. I think that there's a, you know, there's a line there. I'm not sure how to define that. i I told you before we hopped on here that I wanted to kind of get your thoughts on that because I have a hard time with that. I hate the word quit. I hate quitting.
00:08:42
Speaker
But I can think of, mean, I just stepped down from being a coach. And the first thing I thought was like I just quit. I just quit on it because it's been tough and it's taken time. And it's, you know, we we got so close a couple of years ago to doing something that hadn't been done in over a hundred years and didn't get it. Did I quit? Did I just give up because it's so difficult?
00:09:03
Speaker
Or do I stay at this thing until, you know, I die? It it But, you know, i now I had other things I needed to give my time to that I felt like were, you know, needed my attention. um Some people might, you know, I guess you could say I quit there. So I don't know, Chad, what you tell me, what's the, because we do need to everybody most 90, what is it? 98%. think 2% of high school athletes go on to do anything
Insights from Sports for Personal Growth
00:09:30
Speaker
at the next level.
00:09:31
Speaker
That, that includes division three, division two, junior college, 5%. five percent um go and do anything. Excuse me, 2% go play D1, 5% get a chance to go do it at at any level at all. So, you know, it's a 95% of these kids will never do anything at any level outside of high school. So, but they could go to a small school and try to walk on.
00:09:54
Speaker
So if they don't do that, are they quitting? Did they give up too early? Like, what do you tell a kid that it's, i don't know, what do you think? Yeah, I like the word redirect rather than quit. he He later on in the episode says, where your focus goes, your energy flows.
00:10:12
Speaker
And I think there are times in life where it's completely healthy and needed to redirect our energy. i think that quitting i think that quitting involves sulking and pouting porch and and sitting on a porch and throwing a steak at your nephew's face and becoming Uncle Rico talking about how you used to be able to throw footballs over mountains and you've never moved on in your life. You know, like that that's kind of the quitter.
00:10:46
Speaker
But I like the idea of redirecting energy and saying, he he went on in that quote, you'll remember he talked about, he picked up these flecks of gold along the way.
00:10:58
Speaker
And one of the flecks of gold he picked up was like this ability to dream. He had a dream. He wanted to play for BYU football. Earlier in the episode, he talked about how he was this 5'10 white guy that was too short, too slow, too white to ever play. That's his words to ever play receiver at BYU.
00:11:21
Speaker
and And yet he did it. And then it was taken away from him in an instant. But he said what wasn't taken away, what some of those flecks of gold he had picked up along the way was the ability to dream and work for a dream.
00:11:36
Speaker
And so now he realized that dream of being what I wanted to be at BYU football is probably not going to happen ever again. But I can still dream and I can still redirect my energy toward new dreams.
00:11:52
Speaker
And I think I know your case, like stepping away from being a high school football coach. It wasn't so that you can. you know, you worked through that with me. I remember conversations about it and it was never about, Chad, I just, I need to find more time on the golf course. And, you know, I, that that was, there was a little, a little bit of it was the golf course. There was, there might have been, my tan, I had such a farmer's tan last summer. There you go. you know There you go.
00:12:26
Speaker
No, I got what you mean. Yeah. but It's like you there with children and with seasons of life and with um with other things that are very important to you. There comes a moment where we just have we're juggling too many balls and we have to decide.
00:12:45
Speaker
at this, at this moment, what's the best place for me to put my energy? Now, sometimes that comes because there's too many things. And sometimes that comes because something that we were putting a lot of energy toward is taken away from us, like in Jeff's case. Yeah. But either case, I think part of resilience is finding a new dream and putting energy very intentionally toward that dream.
00:13:13
Speaker
And you mentioned, you know, Jeff went on and has gone on now. He's dude, that guy travels the world yeah and, and speaks at large events and has formed this foundation Griffin motivation. And,
00:13:29
Speaker
And I've been with him when he's spoken, you know, it it's pretty powerful. He, uh, he said he talks for a half an hour or so about, they told me I'd never walk again. And I've been confined to this wheelchair. And he ends his presentation by getting up and walking to the, to a microphone and giving the last words, uh, that, that he says to him that don't let anyone tell you that something's impossible. He, he said, uh,
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah, this is getting on a tangent here, but i love it. He quoted Muhammad Ali. He said, ah impossible is just a small word. of No, impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who would rather live in the world that they've been given than to put their energy toward the world they want to create.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah. Something like that. He just has. so So I just feel like so many young people right now don't stop dreaming. Yeah. Like you've had a dream. It might be dying with high school.
00:14:34
Speaker
Fine. It's over. Like someone shut that door. Great. But don't stop dreaming. What's your next dream? What do you want to become? What do you want to do? I think that power to create a new dream and continue to put as much energy and focus towards something new as you did toward your high school or college sport or pro sport for that matter is really important. And as part of being resilient as an athlete.
00:14:59
Speaker
I like that shot.
Embracing Change and New Endeavors
00:15:00
Speaker
I think that there are certain goals and certain dreams that they have shelf lives to them. And some are shorter than others, right? Some are ah some are there until the day we die. We have goals that every day we're trying to become better at being a,
00:15:13
Speaker
a person, a human, a friend, a ah a brother, a husband, a wife, whatever, right? And that's an everyday goal and we should have that. That that shelf life is forever. But there's other goals that, yeah, it's it's that that chapter of of that book, I've read all the the words on you know in it. It's over. It's time to turn it and start a new chapter. and And that shelf life, it's up, right? it's it's in and And certain goals, you have a time limit on them. Just like I said, there are shelf life to it. You got to get after it now because it's not going to be there forever. You're only going to have a certain amount of
00:15:46
Speaker
you know, hours or years to to play sports. And then it, whether you want to keep doing it or not, you're going to be too old, right? High school, if you're a high school senior right now, this week where we live, it's the last week of high school. So that shelf life is up, right? Like if, if you wanted to be a high school basketball player, well, that ended a couple months ago, right? So it's, you can't redo that now. But but the lessons you learned from that experience, from being whatever you were and whatever you did get out of it, what's the new dream going to be? And I think that's the key. What you said is redirecting the energy to something productive.
00:16:23
Speaker
And, and, you know, quitting to me takes on the kind of Kate, the, the, it's a negative, um, it's the mood or the attitude in which you stop doing that thing.
00:16:34
Speaker
You know, that to me defines whether or not you, you moved on to something else or you quit. Right. It was to me, it's, it's kind of the mood and the energy and the way in which you, you redirect it, I guess your, your time. And I think that makes, that makes sense. I think that, think you know what that means, right? You it with is it, it's a big factor in whether you're a quitter or if, if you're just like, this is hard and I'm done.
00:17:01
Speaker
Um, you know, I'm not saying there's never a time for that, but it's just, there The attitude with which you do, if it's a pouty, I'm done. yeah i'm excuse making and blaming other people. and Exactly.
00:17:18
Speaker
I've given everything I can to this. Yeah. And I've developed in so many ways because I did that. Yep. But this door's closed and I can't wait to take all those attributes I developed and put it towards something else. That's not being a quitter.
00:17:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's awesome. In fact, yeah we talk about that. That's one of the greatest things that come from playing sports. That's why I wish every parent would put their kid in sports, even if they're a kid that's number 11 on the bench, that's getting into right field for two innings and one at bat because that's the minimum they have to play.
00:17:56
Speaker
But they go to practice every single day. that kid is learning something that maybe even the star of the team is not. the The sport, the lessons of sport are not reserved for those who are really good at them. and And so there's going to be a time where that door closes. For some, it already closed, right? They had dreams of playing high school basketball and then they didn't make the team.
00:18:21
Speaker
and And so now they're they were on the outside looking in as a sophomore. Well, what do you do now? you redirect it yeah yeah it. Remember that Ammon Montenegro that we had on?
00:18:34
Speaker
yeah um Really battled for his life. I don't know if you know that. um Got a staph infection shortly after he filmed that episode with us. And he came out on the on the back end of that and he's doing better now. but he laugh It was bad. but he um you know He went to Snow College.
00:18:51
Speaker
He was a really good high school football player. Went to Snow College and It didn't work out for him. Like it just wasn't working out. But some girls in high school had convinced him to be on the cheer team because they needed someone to lift him, lift them in the air. And you need muscle to do that. Right. And so he went and helped them with the competition and he thought, well, football didn't work out. I,
00:19:18
Speaker
having a hard time paying for school and everything else. I think I'm going to go try cheer. So he didn't quit football. He redirected energy. And now he's doing some really cool things and stuff that he loves doing something. I love what he said. He said, right now I'm living the dream. I didn't even know I had.
00:19:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. and And why did he discover that dream? It's because he kept redirecting energy toward good things. yeah And so I think that's what makes you not a quitter is when you continue to put forth energy toward worthy goals.
00:19:49
Speaker
Well, and not doing that, you you can kind of be –
00:19:56
Speaker
stubbornly stupid. I think like if you don't, if you can at some, if you're so stubborn that you're never, I'm going to keep the, okay, you're kind of stupid. Like you don't, you got to know when it's time. Right. And, and I think the smart people know when it's time to get off the sinking ship and get onto another one. And, you know, and, and they see that and they realize that, you know what, I'm not going anywhere with this. This isn't happening. I thought, I hoped it would, I gave it all I had. It's not, but I'm not going to keep beating my head against the door. I don't, that's not quitting, right? That's, that's being smart and moving on to something else. And, and so, yeah, I think that there's a fine line there. I think in our, in our hearts, people know if they're quitting from just, uh, uh, this is getting, you know, a negative, uh, I don't want to put in the time. I don't want to do the work. And, uh, you know what, I, it's just time to make a change. i
00:20:46
Speaker
I've, I've run my course and, um, This is as good good as I think it's going to get. and And if your mind's not there and your heart's not there, then it's time to redirect your energy. you know And I think that's a wise, if you want to call that quitting, so be it. But I still think it's smart. And we all do it. you know We all make pivots and course corrections in our lives. and And that doesn't mean we're quitting on things. It means we're coming to the realization that it's time to write start a new chapter. and and ah And if that chapter is one that's good and brings goodness to to you and to the world, then hey,
00:21:19
Speaker
Good. Right. the get Good. if if If the other one was wearing you down and and not bringing goodness to the world, then, yeah, it's probably good you got out of it. And in a city I think of this with Jeff Griffin. I mean, he describes himself as a pretty average football player at BYU. You know, who knows? Maybe he would have gone on and become a great receiver there.
00:21:40
Speaker
But it seems like he's done even greater things than then maybe he would have had he not fallen off that ladder. Yeah. and And so sometimes doors closing can open doors if we continue to put our energy toward things that really are better for us. and yeah And I just feel that.
00:22:02
Speaker
so So right now, you know, these these high school kids that are um closing this chapter, my advice would be find something that you're passionate about. You don't need to be passionate about it forever.
00:22:16
Speaker
Just find something you're passionate about, something you want to study, something you want to do and put your whole heart and soul into that until it feels right to redirect your energy towards something else. But that ability to dream new dreams and pivot with life,
00:22:37
Speaker
is important. I'm going through it right now, Dustin, you're close to it. But my last daughter, you know, she graduates this week from from high school.
00:22:50
Speaker
So my wife and i come this August, we're going to be empty nesters. We'll have daughter getting married, daughter in Spain on a mission, the one that's graduating and one leaving us and going to college at BYU.
00:23:02
Speaker
Thankfully, she's close. But, you know, and now it's like I've been putting so much time and energy and and everything into parenting kids in my home. and so even now, it's like I'm at that place and I'm not pretending that this place is like Jeff's
Podcast Impact and Final Reflections
00:23:20
Speaker
sitting there in a pile of, you know, scaffolding and not feeling my legs. That's a dramatic circumstance there.
00:23:27
Speaker
But I need to like, where am I going to put my energy toward? What is it now? And and of course, someday it's going to be grandparent. It's going to be those things, helping my young adult kids and and doing this. And so so there is there are natural times in life where we just need to ask ou ourselves, what's my new dream?
00:23:51
Speaker
I need to dream a new dream. And then go after it. Take everything you've learned from sports about how to accomplish your dreams and then go toward a new dream.
00:24:02
Speaker
yeah And that's part of being resilient. And I love that example from Jeff Griffin. Any any closing thoughts you have on it? No, maybe just that, as you were saying that, most most dreams and most goals, not all, there are some that, of course, are lifelong dreams and lifelong goals, and there's nothing wrong with that. But most of them, I think,
00:24:23
Speaker
um are really are to help prepare us for a bigger thing, for for the next chapter that's even better. right and As long as the each chapter is getting better and better, then and and in and last you know yesterday's dream and goal has built us into a better version of ourselves for tomorrow's dream and goal, and we're continuing to grow and with each one of these goals and dreams that we set,
00:24:47
Speaker
then I think that's great, you know, and, and cause when one door closes, yeah, the next one that opens up might be the one that, you know, it might be the one that really just, just set you, set you flying, in you know, and, and really is the big one. And, uh,
00:25:03
Speaker
But there that's it's we gotta to it's it's okay to sometimes say it's okay. It's time to move on. you know it's It's okay to realize that. So yeah, man, yeah that was good. What a great story. and So like you said earlier, Shad, if if you have a chance to go back and listen to this, the full interview that was done, what what episode number was it, Shad?
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah, that was episode 11. And I'll put the link in the show notes so people could just click on there and go listen to that episode. Really great. really So one of the early, early, early podcasts that we did, but one of the very best. And and again, that's one of those that reusing the content from that episode here two years later is you know more than, i mean, we could we could we could talk about that episode and other pieces from it.
00:25:46
Speaker
um you know, over and over again, there was so much good that came from it. So yeah, if if you want to listen to a great episode or you're new to the, you know, new to our, ah to this podcast, um go check out this episode 11. It was, it was a great one.
00:26:01
Speaker
Awesome. Well, Dustin, thanks for your thoughts on that. We, We appreciate everyone joining us here. We wish the best of luck to all of those who are going on to new things that are that are now in you know in summer. And for those athletes that are that are in summer right now, get after it. you know It's these dark times where no one can see you, ah where you really make progress on other people. Get after it this summer. and And for those who see a door closing, dream a new dream, push it towards something else. and
00:26:34
Speaker
And as always, keep your eyes up and do the work. Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast. To learn more about Especially for Athletes organization, get a copy of our book, The Sportlight, or to bring our program to your team, school, business, or organization, visit us at especiallyforathletes.org.