Lindsey Vonn reveals that behind the public victories lies deep isolation. After winning, she would return to an empty hotel room. Because of her success, she found it difficult to talk about her struggles, as others lack sympathy for a champion's loneliness.

Before her final race, injured and facing immense pressure, Lindsey Vonn’s 96-year-old coach offered a powerful reframe: "What is 60 seconds in your whole life?" This perspective minimized the moment's weight, freeing her to compete without fear and win a medal.

Olympian Lindsey Vonn journaled daily, especially when things were going well. This created a reference point to reverse-engineer success when she later struggled, by documenting what foods, equipment, and feelings contributed to her peak state.

After retiring from a high-pressure career, elite performers may experience unexpected physical tiredness and stress. This is often the body finally processing suppressed emotions and somatic experiences that were previously masked by the overwhelming focus on a single, all-consuming goal.

When leaving an all-consuming career like professional sports, you lose a core part of your identity. Steve Young advises treating this transition like a death: actively mourning and burying the old self to create closure. Without this process, you carry the past around, preventing a true shift to the next chapter.

Modern culture lacks the rites of passage that once marked life transitions. To make a commitment like marriage psychologically tangible, individuals can create their own rituals. Choosing a painful, permanent act, like a first tattoo, can create a powerful demarcation between one's "before" and "after" self.

When elite performers retire, the subsequent identity crisis often stems less from the loss of a singular goal (e.g., winning Mr. Olympia) and more from the dissolution of the highly structured daily routine that supported it. Reintroducing discipline and structure, even without the grand objective, is key to rebuilding a sense of self.

Lindsey Vonn views crashing as part of her job description and a necessary tool for finding her limits. Instead of avoiding the memory, she meticulously analyzes videos of her crashes to understand her mistakes and improve, treating catastrophic failure as invaluable feedback.

When facing a period of self-doubt and repeated failure, Lindsey Vonn didn't just work harder at the same things. She doubled down by hiring an expensive new trainer with money she didn't have, forcing a fundamental reset of her process that led to her first podium.