5x Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings on Pressure, Greatness, and Resilience

Michael Gervais (0:00)

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And enter the code THANKS, T-H-A-N-K-S, THANKS to receive $150 off the Finding Your Best course today. And finding your best, it makes a great gift for loved ones who are looking to invest in their psychology and explore their potential as well. So if you're interested in gifting the course, please reach out to hello at findingmastery.com and the team will get you squared away. What does it take to cultivate a mindset that thrives on challenge and discomfort? And how can having the courage to be radically honest with yourself lead to the extraordinary growth and winning multiple times on the world stage? Welcome back. We're welcome to the Finding Mastery Podcast, where we dive into the minds of the world's greatest thinkers and doers. I am your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade and training, a high-performance psychologist. Today we are joined by the legendary Kerri Walsh Jennings. Kerri is a five-time Olympian with three golds and one bronze medal. The most decorated beach volleyball player in the history of the game, known for her relentless pursuit of both on and off the court growth. Kerri and I got to catch up in Paris during the Olympics. It was such a joy to reconnect, to learn from her, and to reminisce on some of the work that we had done together years ago. And there's no one else like her. Her fire, her care for others, her commitment to be her very best, as a competitor, a wife, a mother, a friend. This is all part of her recipe that is part of the broth of the soup, if you will, to be flat out the best in the world at her sport. We all have adversity. And she walks us through how she uses it for growth and sustained success. I am so excited to share this conversation with you. And just a quick note, if you found value in these conversations, I would love for you to take a moment and leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening to this podcast. It's a no cost way to help us reach more people and grow this incredible community. So with that, let's dive right into this conversation with the legend, hands down, the GOAT, Kerri Walsh Jennings.

Kerri, we have so much rich history that it feels like it's an inherent challenge to sit down with you to really understand how you've become one of the best in the world. And so I wanna start and just say, how do you introduce yourself to people? I wanna start in the most, you don't know somebody, and how do you introduce yourself?

Kerri Walsh Jennings (3:45)

Hi, I'm Kerri, and I'm full of flasks. Nice to meet you.

Michael Gervais (3:48)

Is that what you say?

Kerri Walsh Jennings (3:49)

That's how I feel. No, but that's, I think I'm just Kerri.

Michael Gervais (3:54)

But that's how it feels inside, like I've got a lot going on.

Kerri Walsh Jennings (3:57)

I think, okay, I think there's two things in that question. One, I'm just Kerri, right? I am Kerri. That's one thing. Normal, you know, everyday Joe. And the other is, for some reason, it's like I wanna confess all my sins to make sure that people like me or accept me for more than just winning. You know what I'm saying?

Michael Gervais (4:18)

I want them to see me more than just a winner, a gold medal winner, a bronze medal winner, a five-time Olympian.

Kerri Walsh Jennings (4:25)

Yes.

Michael Gervais (4:27)

And I also think there's probably something about, mark me if this is not right, but you've always been really tall. How tall are you?

Kerri Walsh Jennings (4:36)

6'2 and a bit.

Michael Gervais (4:37)

So when you were younger, you were always just a little bit taller than all of your friends. Is that fair? The reason I'm bringing all of this up is because at some point, there's two things that I think are really not talked about enough for tall and athletic people at a young age. One of them is, at what point did adults treat you differently? Mark that for just a moment. But the second is, when you're taller, that there is like people look at you a certain way. When you're incredibly athletic, there's like this double contour to the way they look at you. They see you as an athlete, and then they see you as being maybe a little bit more responsible, a little bit more mature.