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Kendall: Being the best doesn't mean that I'm the best no matter what, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and I never fail, and I'm better than everyone. It doesn't mean that. It means hey, with this 60 minutes ahead of me or whatever, I can show up as the Absolute fucking best version of myself, and I believe that that version can win at whatever it is that I'm supposed to do.
Founder's Compass with Jaden Hummel: Welcome to Congruent the Podcast. I'm your host, Jaden Hummel. I believe that congruence is our greatest contribution to the world, and it's where the best ideas and actions take shape. On this show, we'll be exploring the intersection of personal alignment, business, and what it means to lead a life that is completely congruent with who you are. So if you're an entrepreneur and you're here to see how good both life and business can get, I look forward to hanging out with you on the show.
Jaden Hummel: Okay, we're Welcome back to Congruent the Podcast. I am so excited. That would be an understatement to say to share this podcast episode with you. Kendall Rusing is an eight-time Brazilian jujitsu world champion, co-owner of four Gracie Barrow Jiu-Jitsu Academies, a sports broadcaster, entrepreneur, and host of the Get a Grip Podcast. She's also a newly married wife. Beyond competition, she's built a career around storytelling, leadership, mentorship. Working as a commentator and on-camera personality while coaching athletes and helping young people build confidence, discipline, and resilience. On this episode, we talk about so many things, what it takes to have a champion mindset and what it takes to win, how to navigate work-life balance, how to push yourself, but make sure that you're still enjoying your life and everything that you do through her business, digital platforms, and online mentorship program. Kendall shares lessons from a lifetime of pursuing excellence at the highest level. She's passionate about inspiring the next generation to dream bigger, take ownership of their lives, and recognize what they are capable of. I know for a fact, if you are an athlete, an entrepreneur, or somebody who is navigating changes in your life, in your career, you're going to get so much from this episode. on. Hello. Welcome to Congruent. I'm so excited to have you on the show today.
Kendall: Yes, thank you so much for having me. What a fun little episode we're about to have. I can feel it.
Jaden Hummel: I know. When I first went to relaunch the podcast, we had just met or connected online, and you were one of the first people I reached out to. I'm like, I'm so excited to talk with you, to have you on here
Kendall: Mm.
Jaden Hummel: because you've just done and accomplished so much in your life, and you're also just so cool. And when you're on social media and talking, I've just heard you share so honestly so many times. And that's one of the things that I really pay attention to in the world, right? you said I I think in your bio of you know really performing at the highest level of excellence or something like that but performing at this high level and also just being such an honest person and I'm just so excited to dive in and get into your mind and chat with you.
Kendall: Hmm. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. That's definitely, I think, kind of where I'm at in my life right now it's funny because I we were just talking about how I'm launching this new program called Winning and literally one of the the key components or I would say the major component is how do you approach having high performance and personal excellence while also maintaining like this essence of spirituality your self-love exploring play and for me those things really come down to like honesty and integrity because if I'm honest I want to be in that on a daily basis. But when I'm performing only performing I'm like I don't need that I just need to high perform and I need to trade and I need to make money and I need to do all these things but that's not really who I am at a core level. a one part of me, you know. So anyway, so my head's really in that space right now.
Jaden Hummel: so good. And I'm curious, like just even before we dive in, I have all these questions for you, but when you talk about performing at the highest level, you've obviously, you know, you've been a jiu-jitsu world champ eight times, correct? Right?
Kendall: Yes, yeah. across the belts, yeah, I've been a champ eight times and three times at Black Belt specifically, so yeah.
Jaden Hummel: Incredible. And when you talk about performing at the highest level, what does that mean to you?
Kendall: Performing at the highest level. I mean, I'm a big fan of like when I'm coaching clients or students, whether it's like in-person students or coaching clients online. You know, we talk about this thing that's very common. You've heard probably heard it before, is like our hundred percent looks different on different days. So like high performance in like there's one way to look at it is like, well, are you giving your best? Are you performing at your best? You know, what for what that is today based on the cards you've been dealt, what's on your plate, what things you're, you know, contending with, where you are in the world, what you've got access to. But then when you think about high performance in a competitive realm all of those things kind of disappear. Like you have to be able it's funny, Rhonda Rousey, who's like one of the goats of MMA and judo, she used to say, you know, her mom told her, which again a lot of coaches will tell you, you have to be able to be the best person in the world, which would make you the best person in the world on your absolute worst day. And so take all of the other things out of the equation. No one cares what your circumstances are. Nobody cares what you're battling. No one cares Your sad story is nobody cares if you didn't sleep, no one cares if your dog died or if you got divorced or a parent is sick, like all of
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these real hard things. nobody cares when it comes down to results. So, with that being said, like I believe high performance is learning how to Be in both depending on what the day calls for. So if I'm only ever in that second category, then I become really cold, I become really hard. And I've been in phases of my life like that where like I have to win at any cost, it doesn't matter. but I've also floated a little bit to the other side of like you know, losing my edge a little bit, you know, trying to find that balance means oftentimes we're like ping ponging back and forth. so now I would say my version of high performance. Ideally is like if it's a day where it's a world champion day or it's an opening day of a program or some stuff is really on the line, like there's nothing else in the world that matters, and I will do whatever it takes to be tunnel visioned and to win. but if the circumstances do not call for that, you know, are there times where I can, you know, really look at like my output has gone way down or whatever? But that was 100% of like what I had to give that day, and can I accept and not make it a big deal and just like love that part of me and play and have fun and relax and sleep and check out or whatever. And so can I do both of those versions of high performance appropriately, I think is is what it means to me these days.
Jaden Hummel: So good. We talk so much in our world about satisfaction, not
Kendall: Mm.
Jaden Hummel: being from actually succeeding in anything, but moving in the direction of where you want to go. And as you were sharing about that, I'm thinking about, you know, I I work with so many different people, and you hear like that life happens and excuses happen, and there's things. And I was just talking inside of one of my programs about like there's never a right time, right? Like things are
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: always gonna happen, or we can always have an excuse. And I'm curious to hear what you would say to somebody who is maybe asking that question: would it be a good time for me to rest and sort of take a break? Or would it be better for me to push through? Because at the end of the day, like, what's the thing that's gonna give us satisfaction? And so I'd love to hear your take on
Kendall: Mmm.
Jaden Hummel: that.
Kendall: God, that's such a good question. Dude, if that ain't the Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, same. And me too. I'm like, what is she gonna come up with? Because that's,
Jaden Hummel: And I'm like and I'm listening to my
Kendall: you know, for me today. No, I mean the question of the century, right? It's like when to push and when to pull. And you know what's interesting? did you happen to listen to the Tony Robbins and Alex Farmozzi podcast? Dude. Dude.
Jaden Hummel: No, I really wanted to. Did it get taken down? Is it still up? Okay. I think it's down there.
Kendall: I don't know. I'm not sure. I hope not though. It was brilliant because it basically turned into a coaching session of Tony coaching Alex. But it was great. I mean, Alex was really receptive. but anyway, so what it I mean, Tony's just such a master at what he does. He was like my first
Jaden Hummel: They're both so good.
Kendall: idol, like my first ever like, I wanna be him when I grow up. Actually, funny enough, Jaden and I met through a coaching program and the person who runs that coaching program, Rachel Bell, she and I met at a youth event for Tony Robbins. It was the Global Youth Leadership Summit, yeah.
Jaden Hummel: Amazing. Everyone I love
Kendall: So yeah, full circle.
Jaden Hummel: and think of like so many people I look up to have like I look up to their personal development, if you will, like have been students of Tony Robbins. He's so kind.
Kendall: Yeah. Yeah, no, it's he's he's the best. But anyway, so in that podcast, this speaks to your question, like he talks a lot about your push versus your pull and that concept and so he's you know if you think of someone who your listeners are probably somewhat familiar at least with Alex Harmozy so like you see his content everywhere and it's like push push push push push incredible person I mean he is like driver to the max and Tony's thing is kind of like well you get to a point where like how far do you keep going? Because once you have a lot of money you have a lot of impact you've created a lot of success for other people like where do you go next? Like how do you know when to stop? And that's where the poll comes into play. So he talked about multiple things. He actually like really encouraged them to have kids. He's like, you might want to think about getting started with that. And now they're about to have a baby, which is so funny. he also talked about like really giving, not like giving back to community as far as like, I'd go donate a million dollars, but like actually get involved in a cause that you can get behind. Not for looks, not because you should, but because like you really feel deeply connected. So that kind of brings you back to your question of like, I think everyone is on their own path. Path of figuring out where there are pushes. Like sometimes you do need to kick in that, like, okay, don't be a bitch. Like, you need you need to go.
Jaden Hummel: Yeah.
Kendall: Like, you know, now's the time. And then at the same time, sometimes you realize you're operating in that. Maybe it's a default thing. Maybe you're running from something. Maybe you're running to money or fame because you think it's gonna solve your problems. All these things, right? Same with fitness, and we can all get kind of insane. Especially probably
Jaden Hummel: Totally.
Kendall: people listening to this. They wrote on the insane side.
Jaden Hummel: Yeah.
Kendall: So like with that I think we're all on our own journey of figuring out what we need at any given time. However, I don't believe it's possible to find like where you actually operate and feel the best unless you push the boundaries. So I'm a fan of being
in extremes as needed and then kind of like I said before, ping-ponging, like kind of floating back to the middle. I don't want to necessarily be all black or all white. I do want to be in the gray, but some seasons require more black for me and some seasons require more white. So I'm always kind of swinging around but I think it requires two ingredients one is audacity so like audacity and courage to like really go for stuff and also to really pull back when things don't feel right because that requires courage and audacity too and to go against the grain because maybe other people think what you're doing is successful you look great you're making it look really good but you know for you like yo this isn't sustainable this actually you know I don't want to go down this path anymore and the longer I go down on this train the longer it's gonna take me to get home so I need get off now even though no one's gonna understand so you can be audacious on the black or the white side and have courage but the other piece is the honesty and self-awareness and that's what I think we're all looking to build over you know our lifetimes I don't know if the project is ever done but self-awareness and honesty of like how does this really feel like is this really aligned with where I want to go who I want to be and those are things that are easy to say but they're harder to put into practice and so for me right now one of the examples is pulling back from competing Like I'm competing less than I ever have in jujitsu. And to a lot of people, it's like, dude, what are you doing? You're throwing away so many opportunities. You're throwing away prestige. You're throwing away great matches. You're throwing away money. You're throwing away legacy. And for me, I'm like, it doesn't have to make sense on the outside because pushing in that direction is actually starting to, not that I'll never fight again, but having that be my sole driver for me is now taking me further away from the person I want to be. versus pushing me towards it. And that wasn't true a couple of years ago, but it's starting to be true now. So and that's the self awareness piece
Jaden Hummel: So good. One of my mentors who actually, speaking of Tony Robbins, he knows Tony. And I'm always like, but
Kendall: cool.
Jaden Hummel: he said to me once, he just said, you know, what worked for you ten years ago isn't gonna work for you now.
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: And you know, when you put so much energy into something or you do something for so long, it's hard to shift. And I wanna hear that from you because I know that you're in, you know, some sort of a a pivot or these micro pivots or,
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: you know, when we talk about congruence, we're pivoting a little bit all the time. You just got married, you're competing less. I I would love to
Kendall: Mm.
Jaden Hummel: hear you know, when you think about or you're talking about that person that you want to become now, like what does that look like right now in your life going from somebody
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: who I don't know what your competing schedule is like, but I'm assuming competing all the time to now you're like getting
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: married, entering this new chapter. Yeah, what's
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: up in
Kendall: Gosh, yeah, it's I was just talking to my husband, it's still funny to say husband, because it's only been a couple months that I was talking to my husband Chris last night about this. And I'm one of those people that figures stuff out through like talking and conversation. So everyone in my life knows like
Jaden Hummel: Yeah.
Kendall: you might have to hear me have the same conversation like a bunch of times, but it's how I work out my thoughts. Like I love writing, I love like a lot of different modalities, but For me, like having conversation is like there's nothing like it, hearing myself think out loud. So, anyway, that being said, I we were talking about this last night, and I was like, dude, for the 27th time, like I still feel like the idea of balancing, so to speak, which is kind of a placeholder word because maybe you don't have to use the word balance, maybe you can use holding, holding both realities of hey, I've have a lot of ambition, I've always had a lot of ambition, I've always I've always wanted to live a big life. I've always felt like I could create a lot of abundance. I've always been good at making money. I've always been good at winning. Like I've just like that's just me. Like I was blessed with great parents. I came with a lot of gifts into this world. They cultivated them. And then I've put a ton of work into cultivating them as time's gone on. And it's like I've always been good at winning, and I know that I'm meant to create a lot of impact, have a big life, and you know, live in a way that feels really audacious. You know, that's one of my favorite words right now, clearly. At the same time, where does motherhood and being a wife fit into that? And also like my body as I get closer to 30. I'm still very young, but I'm about to turn 29. And you know, combat sports, like you don't usually peak for women in your 30s, your kind of late 20s is what you're looking at. Not that it can't be done, but it's maybe not not my choice. And so you're looking at all these things, and it's like, yeah, two things are true at one point. So then the question becomes okay, well, maybe like for me. I don't know, maybe God has a huge change in my heart planned that I haven't experienced yet because maybe kids start to come and I totally like literally don't give a shit about anything else. Like that happens to people, you know?
Jaden Hummel: Tornada.
Kendall: Maybe I have kids and then it's like, wow, I have all these new ideas that I never even thought of before. Maybe it's a combination, you know, so it's like for me being in so much unknown, it's so funny. have you ever had read Pemma Shaudron? my god, you gotta
get on Pemma girl. Okay, so Pema,
Jaden Hummel: Okay.
Kendall: she is freaking genius. Well, she's was a Buddhist monk. I don't think she's a practicing monk anymore. I think she was a monk, and then anyway, she's written a bajillion great books, but one of her books she tells a story about how she's talking to one of her teachers. And she's like, Yes, I'm just going through this time right now of transition, and it's difficult because I'm holding on to old identities and I'm creating new ones, and da-da-da-da-da. And He just simply goes, Well yes, but All of life every day is transition. So if you just remembered that that's actually every day, and you're you don't have to I'm paraphrasing, but you don't have to make this some special event and you just stop fighting and realizing like that's actually just the state of life all the time, this would probably be a lot easier on you. Like and that's where I'm trying to live. So my point is that that's not where I live all the time, but it's where I'm trying to live, where I'm like, I trust that the right opportunities come up, I trust that I have the right inspiration. That I can act on if I want to create something. And I also trust that like my mind is gonna change. I'm gonna get new information. There is so much in store that I don't even know about yet. And that can be fun instead of scary if I allow myself to not need to know exactly what is gonna come next. So that's where I am.
Jaden Hummel: So good. I find that the trust is the bridge to us doing extraordinary things in the world. And I talk about this thing, the trust triade, is like we have to trust ourselves. We have to trust other people, other people's path, and we have to trust the universe. And when we don't trust those things, we compromise in some area or we don't do the thing. And it's usually that we're trying to get some element of control. And that's what I was hearing you say that it's like we don't do these things or we shift the way things are made. Maybe meant to be because we're trying to control an outcome. And I'd love to hear from you because you shared on Instagram that success is being resilient and just like trying and doing the thing. And I'd venture to guess you've probably failed a lot of times and this a couple. And it's
Kendall: Just a few.
Jaden Hummel: putting ourselves out there, not being able to. control and not knowing and so I'm curious how you navigate that, what do you control? how do you face it?
Kendall: my god. These are like all my favorite questions because they're all the things that are up for me right now. No, it's
Jaden Hummel: Ha ha ha.
Kendall: so good. I mean, that post you're referring to, it's like there's nothing that replaces trial and error. I love a good coaching program, I love a good book, I love a good podcast. There is nothing, as you know, that replaces real lived experience and trying. And so when I say like, dude, literally success is like trying and failing and then being resilient to do it again, having the audacity to dream big, to go for something that looks difficult, to find Along the way, and then to get up and keep trying to go for it. And then at the same time, knowing that you can change your mind. Like, that's one of my favorite things
Jaden Hummel: Mm-hmm.
Kendall: that I tell clients is I'm like, you know, you can change your mind at any time, right? Like everything is just an experiment. Other than having children, like that's the probably you know, the one thing you can't really like undo. Like they come out, they're there, like they're a human, right? Other than that, like
Jaden Hummel: Yeah.
Kendall: even getting married, even buying a house, like going bankrupt, like starting a business, all of these things, like you can change your mind. About anything. So everything is just an experiment. And all you have to do is keep doing trial and error and trust that you're gonna learn along the way. Either you're gonna get closer to the thing that you thought you want, or you're gonna get new information that'll bring you closer to where you want to go next instead. So, as far as the things that I can control, like there's definitely non-negotiables as far as like just getting super granular. It's like, well, I move my body every day no matter what. Like, that's something that I can control that impacts my state. Of well-being, right? So it's more things like I oftentimes feel like the things that I can control around how I want to be, how I want to feel, how I want to move in the world. And a lot of those things are like how do I treat other people? How do I create intentional time with my partner? How do I move my body? How do I feel my body? How do I consume less? Which is the most challenging for me for sure. So when it comes to social media. What do I consume more of? Like those kinds of things at the beginning of this year, I remember telling my therapist, like, yeah, I just feel 'cause twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five were like big burn it down years for me. And so this year there were still some things that needed to go, but I knew I had cleared enough space and I like to start dreaming again because I kind of got stuck in twenty-five And I'm like, I'm outgrown this version of me, but like Don't really know where going, and but I know like she has to die, and so I'm like so many people, right? Yeah, and
Jaden Hummel: Yeah. Twenty twenty five was a burn it for year for me too. Like Yeah.
Kendall: then this is the year of the horse, and I was like, slay, so we're gonna ride off our little horse in the sunset, but I didn't know in January like what that looked like. So I literally remember telling my therapist, like, yeah, I feel like I'm almost ready to go into like goal setting mode and like dream again and write all this stuff down, but I don't know what it is yet. Like the energy's back, but I don't know what the things are, you know? And I'm still
Jaden Hummel: Mm-hmm.
Kendall: like it's
been growing throughout the year, but like some of it's come and some of it's not, and I'm still haven't like returned to that state where I'm like, I'm on fire every day and I'm on a mission. Like I, you know, that's like my my favorite state, is it? Not everyone's and so anyway, at the beginning of the year I had to shift the focus to like, okay, well then if I don't know what I want to do, then how do I want to be. So what things can I focus like around how I want to be. So then some of those things I mentioned earlier like have become the anchors to that and trusting that if I'm being the woman that I love to be, then the doing like will become more apparent as I continue to be her. And who I be, who I am, like who I've been being this year, required a lot of change because who I wanted to be meant that I needed to let go of a lot of patterns, certain relationships, a lot of stuff. even like, you know, big income streams, things like that from last year that had to go because I didn't like who I was being in order to maintain those things. So it's like, well, if I'm gonna be somebody new and a lot of this is gonna go, then I'm gonna trust that a lot of the doing will show up as I create more space for it. So
Jaden Hummel: Were you afraid? Like doing it takes so much courage to get rid of things or to move on from things.
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: Like, were you afraid when you were afraid? What did you do?
Kendall: Mm. yeah, I mean I think the fear Like the fear factor is funny because sometimes the fear is a really good barometer for me of like when to actually make the leap. Like oftentimes it's something feeling scary that is like the sign for me of like, yeah, this is the right thing for you. Cause you give if you dig into like, well, why am I afraid? Is it because I'm afraid of losing something? Is it because I'm afraid of what somebody's gonna think? Is it because I'm afraid of how this impacts somebody else? ultimately is how it impacts me because I'm upset that they're upset or whatever, you know. So
Jaden Hummel: Yeah.
Kendall: yeah, I mean I think that there has been a lot of fear along the way, but at the same time, I think like most things and like most people, I'm the same as many that we don't change until we have to. So usually there's some kind of forcing system and we get in enough pain to the point where we're like, okay, now the pain is outdoing the fear. Now I'm willing to go through the fear because the pain is so great that I know longer can do this anymore and I think my goal like one of my goals Is to decrease the amount of pain that it takes for me to make a change. And in some areas I have, right? Like in my eating disorder recovery that I've talked about a lot online, like that is a that is where I see that the most. Like I get in way less pain now in order to be like, actually, I need help. Something's off. Like, I need to make a change here. I need to get reconnected. I need to ask for help. and in business, like I'd say I'm better now than I am before. I used to let so much get like wacky, painful, horrible. And now I'm like, nope, I don't I don't wanna go there. So yeah, I mean that's a work in progress.
Jaden Hummel: Yeah. I so hear you. And so I also just I just want to frame like some of the things that you've said that I've loved so much, which is like in the earlier in the podcast you were talking about balance and just really going out of balance to figure out what that is and then doing trial and error. Think because I work in personal development, a lot of people come and ask questions about things like that, and they're afraid to do things. Like they're afraid. I don't know if you've felt that or seen that. Like people are afraid to not have work-life balance, or they're afraid
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: to do these things. And I I just love hearing this from you. It's like, no, that's what it's about. You stretch the edges and then figure out what makes sense. And I'm so hearing you and what you just shared. And one thing that's interesting and something that I've Been navigating in my life is that I'm really good when my back's up against the wall. Like if I have to
Kendall: Yeah, yeah.
Jaden Hummel: make something work or like I need to figure it out. And luckily, you know, as I've gone on with life and and have done things, the less I've needed to or the less I've had that like we're motivated by survival as humans, you know, it's like if you need to eat, you'll go figure out how to eat. But when you
Kendall: Mm.
Jaden Hummel: have a nice plate of food, it's like, okay, you don't, you know, you could just kind of sit there and enjoy it.
Kendall: Yeah. Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: And so I'm obviously you're you know, a highly motivated person, you've done a lot of things. Like how do you stay motivated?
Kendall: Mm. Yeah, I mean So it's funny to ask me this at this period in life because so when did I move out here? I think I moved in with Chris and I we found this house together like two years ago. And when that happened, I started being more financially dependent on him. That really changed my needs, you know, like it changed my needs to produce the way that I had been because I've always been a big producer. And that's a huge blessing. Blessing, massive blessing, but it also like of course really changed like my day-to-day because I was like, yeah, I don't really like need to maybe like my vision for my life is gonna be different because I actually don't know if I want to create a lifestyle where I need to be like this massive earner while I have children in order to sustain this lifestyle. And you know, like that's a huge thing for like a woman in her in like a prime earning category in her youth because you're just like, wow, okay, so what do I do here? That being said, what it allowed me to do is I saved a lot of money. And that was such a blessing because when it came to 2025 and needing to let a lot of things go, a lot of work go
specifically and I was fighting less. and I was still doing like my broadcasting and commentating, but overall I was just earning a lot less, right? Like twenty twenty five was like a way lower earning year for me by choice than ever before. well since I started making money. Anyway, so all that had to be all that to be said. I grappled with that question a lot. Like, what am I supposed to be motivated about anyway? You know, like that's what the question became. Like, what is the motivation? Like, is it just to make the most money possible? And I like making money. That's not like I'm running a program right now that's about to sell out that's gonna be very lucrative and fun and great. But yeah, so a lot of that has changed. I think I'm still figuring that out. And it kind of goes back to like early 2025 being in that category of like, okay. who am I gonna be? Who am I gonna be? How do I wanna be? What do I wanna be? And then we'll fill in the dues later based on that. And like partnership was a huge blessing in that because he has provided a lot of space for me to like have this experience. And then also giving myself the credit of like, yeah, and then I went and saved a lot of money instead of just spending everything that I earned because I could and continuing to earn where I could and where I was having fun and following the fun of it all and like Now, like I'm launching this program winning, literally starts later this week. It's the first like new thing that I've launched all year. And what's it's it's October. So it's the first thing I've launched all year that's brand new. And it was the first time like throughout the year that I had that feeling of like, okay, like fuck it. Like I just want to go for something. I just wanna like see, I just wanna create something and make it happen because I think it'll be fun and I think I can offer something really cool to people and I think I can create a cool experience for people. But I would say my motivations have changed is probably the the simplest answer to that. My motivations have changed. I still feel like I'm aiming for personal excellence every day, but my version of personal excellence is different than what it looked like or how I would have categorized it a year ago. and I'm really grateful for like the space and the time to navigate that and figure that out and not be in survival mode and not have an have an option. but that was always my goal, you know, like growing up. And and starting to build financial autonomy as an entrepreneur, like that was always my goal, even before I met Chris, was like, I want to give myself freedom that like when I need to pause and figure things out, I'm never backed into a corner, I'm never backed into a hole. There's also a limit to that because it's not like I was gonna run a startup, you know, company and invest all my money and be like,
Jaden Hummel: Yeah.
Kendall: you know, like that's a different lifestyle. It's not necessarily the lifestyle that
I would choose for myself, but anyway, so yeah. Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: So good. I actually remember speaking of Rachel Bell, who you brought up earlier. I remember she made an Instagram post, I don't know, a few years ago, and she was like, I want everybody to achieve this level of success that I've achieved because then they'll realize that none of it
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: matters, or you're forced to realize what matters. And kind of similar to what you've described, I've gone through that myself too, where I was so motivated by earning or
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: trying to figure that out and then when you have it or you've created it You think that
Kendall: Mm.
Jaden Hummel: that would have been the harder question, but then the harder question is like the real one, which you've had all along, which is like, what do I actually want to do? Who do I actually want to be in this world? And I just love hearing that perspective from you. I mean, obviously, this podcast is called Congruent, and ideally, we think about that in all of
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: our decisions. Because if you don't think about, you know, who do I want to be? How do I want to live my days? Like you're gonna be faced with that once you achieve. The thing, and so you can either
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: do it completely with that in mind, or you're gonna get there and have to look back and go, okay, like what do
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: I actually want? What actually matters to me now? And it's such a dance,
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: and it's really interesting to hear you talk about it. And I know so many people listening have probably gone through something similar, and it's just
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: so incredible to hear it from
Kendall: Yeah. Thank you.
Jaden Hummel: you.
Kendall: And there you know, there's one thing I I remember my therapist and I talking about this and it actually came to be in a meditation and then I went over it with her. And if it helps anybody who is going through a period of like slowing down or letting go of things or, you know, figuring out like what the next chapter is gonna be, I remember having this come up in a meditation where it was like I was thinking about the difference between like a big wave and like a tidal wave in the ocean. And I used to be the kind of person that could create waves just Like on demand, like any moment I am just that way, right? Like I just have that energy about me where I can like create movement, create money, create energy, I can make people move, I can inspire people. Like, and it's not that I can't do that anymore, but it feels inauthentic to do that now because it used it's not that it used to be inauthentic, it used to come from that's really who I was, but I have changed, so I no longer have that like. Yeah, it's just different. But the tidal wave takes a lot longer to build up, but the magnitude that it and it's a slower build, but the magnitude that it carries, the power that it carries, the impact that it has is so much greater and so much bigger. And what's funny is like the trust process that I'm in is I can feel like I know myself very well. I can feel that something is building. Like I know that that energy Is there. I just have never experienced it this way before because I've always been like a hard and fast kind of a you know, go get her girl. And now, yeah, no, I can feel
Jaden Hummel: Totally. Yeah. Me too.
Kendall: it. Like so many of us are are this way. Like you can like recognizes like you can like feel that that power. And the trust fall of I'm gonna resist the urge to go into these hard and fast power games. For me, that would be like competing right now. Like if I needed to go make a check, get a lot of recognition, feel important, feel relevant, feel powerful, win a medal. I know what that is. I've done it a lot of times. It felt authentic a lot of times, it no longer feels authentic. It would need to be something really exciting for me to be really excited about it. So, with that being said, the trust valve, like I'm gonna say no to so many things because I know that something else is building. And every time I say yes to all these small things that are pulling me, I'm taking away from the big thing that's building. However, I don't know
Jaden Hummel: Yeah.
Kendall: what the big thing Thing is, yet like it's easy to say no to things when you know what the big thing is. Like my my husband is he and his brother, and and there's three of these founders of this this company that they're building, and every day, you know, they're on a mission, they're waking up, they know exactly like drive driver, you know what I'm about, and it's like this huge thing, and I'm so jealous sometimes because I'm like, you're on this mission, and I remember what it feels like to be on a mission every day, and it's so good. But then I go into like you know what. Like, but it's so cool like to even be able to recognize that in your partner, to be able to identify and relate to it, because a lot of women, if they haven't, men too, like women and men, but particularly my dynamic, women and men, like a lot of women haven't started companies on their own or haven't done that, and so they can't resonate. So just kind of swapping to be like, dude, I can resonate with this. This is cool, I can appreciate what's going on. And I also know that something bigger is building for me. And just because I don't know what it is yet doesn't mean I don't know that it's coming. And the trust fall of that and the faith. Those so that's why my faith in the last couple of years specifically has been getting so, so, so strong because I'm like communicating with God, universe, higher power, whatever word you use, all the time. I'm like, show me, I'm ready, show me, like any little signs.
Jaden Hummel: Yeah.
Kendall: Like I'm so it's a trust fall, but trusting that the tidal wave is greater magnitude than the small waves, even if you don't know
when and how the tidal wave's coming yet, is like the ultimate thing for me at the moment, which is hard.
Jaden Hummel: So good. I'm like so on. I'm like, yes, I'm so on a out of parallel path. And what I really heard
Kendall: Yes, I love it.
Jaden Hummel: too is like fight the urge to take like the quick thing that's comfortable
Kendall: Mm.
Jaden Hummel: that you know that you can produce. And I I've been on that too. It's like I've been doing the same thing for seven years, ten years. Like I can do these quick little hits that I know are gonna work, but there's this bigger
Kendall: Yeah, yeah.
Jaden Hummel: thing. And trusting that, and then also having the Power, courage, trust to not. Keep doing the things, right? It's like you keep doing things that the way you're doing them, you're gonna get the same results. And so if you want the title wave, like it's gonna take a different thing. Okay, I have two quick questions to ask you. number one, this was meant to be the first question, but we just dove into it.
Kendall: Yeah. Go for it.
Jaden Hummel: I wanna hear, because I mean, it's not every day that you get to hear from somebody who's like performed and succeeded at your level. from winning? eight times what is the transferable skill that you've brought if you had to pick one into your I'm gonna put life and business in the same category from jujitsu like what is the transferable skill that you've got?
Kendall: Mm, I'd say it applies to everything, life, business, marriage. Even though I'm early on. Like every, you know, other familial relationships, fitness. it really is like that champion mindset and attitude of like I didn't even ask if I'd cuss on your podcast, but I am anyway.
Jaden Hummel: Yeah, you can.
Kendall: The champion attitude of like, I'm the fucking best. Like I will never fucking give up. I'm the fucking best. Like so many times, like over the years of competing, my mantras changed, and I had specific ones that applied in different seasons, but almost one, like one that almost was always with me was I'm the fucking best. And it's not necessarily like, okay, say for example, I'm like having a conversation with Chris and we're like arguing about something. It's not necessarily The same like words, like I'm the fucking best. But it's this same attitude of like, for so for example, with with him and me, it's like, well, well, we're the team, like we want us to win. So it kind of transfers over to that. It's like, we're the fucking best, you know? Like nothing is going to stop us. Like, we no matter what, like it's going to be us. And then same thing with like business. Like, say, for example, I am Getting on a call with a bunch of clients and I'm presenting something. It's like that's the level of energy I want to go in with of like, dude, I'm the fucking best at what I do. People are showing up, they are investing their time, their energy, their money, their attention, their trust. They're showing up for themselves and for a lot
of people, maybe it's their first time doing that. That's a big thing for them. Like, I need to believe that I can go in and give them a great fucking experience. And I know that I can, like, and I'm the fucking best. So it's that champion mindset of like being able to feel unstoppable at any given moment and Going back to what you asked earlier, being able to do that on your worst day. Like, I'm not saying that you have to do that every single day for the rest of your life, but when the time calls for it, you better fucking know how to show up as a champion, or else, like, there will be things that take you out on some of the most inopportune times when you had an opportunity or you had a chance to do something, or you had a you know, an investor in front of you, or like whatever it is, and like you needed to get, or you know, your kids fighting with you or whatever, like, you know, and like you need to get shit done and you can't get shit done. Like that champion might mindset is without a doubt the most important skill that I've learned. and I had to learn that too, win world titles. You don't win world titles without that. So yeah, that's the biggest.
Jaden Hummel: So good. And I I wanna say Too like for anybody listening, because that was incredible. And it reminds me of just mantras in general. And I've
Kendall: Mm.
Jaden Hummel: had, you know, people will say, like, what's a good mantra? Or what or what mantra should I use? Or if we're trying to achieve something we haven't, people will go and look for a mantra. And the
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: mantra has to be something that you actually believe. And I hear that from you. And like you can believe, I'm the best in in the way that you know makes sense. And
Kendall: Mm.
Jaden Hummel: it's so important, like, you know, if you like. Let's just say you have zero dollars and you wanna be a millionaire, the mantra wouldn't be like I'm a millionaire, and then you look and you don't have it. It's like that's not the mantra. The mantra is like I can do this or I'm amazing or I
Kendall: Yeah.
Jaden Hummel: can whatever. And so no matter No.
Kendall: Or have you have you read Millionaire My Secrets of the Millionaire Mind? His his his mantra is I have a Millionaire Mind. And I love that because it's like it's
Jaden Hummel: Ex yeah. Exactly.
Kendall: not trying to lie to yourself like you have something that you don't have already. It's like, no, I have a millionaire mind. And here's the thing about being the best or having a millionaire mind. Being the best doesn't mean that I'm the best no matter what, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and I never fail, and I'm better than everyone. It doesn't mean that. It means hey, with this 10 minutes ahead of me or this 60 minutes ahead of me or whatever, I can show up as the Absolute fucking best version of myself, and I believe that that version can win at whatever it is that I'm supposed to do. So there would be people that I knew were better than me and jujitsu, right? So I knew they had more technical skills than me, they were stronger, they were on steroids, whatever, right? It didn't matter because in my mind, I'm like, in the next 10 minutes, nobody can fucking stop me. And doesn't even mean that I won every single thing I entered. I didn't. Like I would think that and lose, but it doesn't matter because I know I would build up my proof of doing hard things. And when you build up proof of being able to overcome challenges, you can pull from that bank. That's one of the greatest things about me to like doing hard fitness stuff because it's such an entry level area where you can teach yourself that you're resilient. You can teach yourself that you can do hard things and then you can pull from that bank when it you need it to transfer into other areas of life.
Jaden Hummel: So freaking good. I love it. okay, last question to leave people with is what's one thing that you really believe about living an extraordinary life that you think that more people need to hear?
Kendall: God, that's a beautiful question. I would say like two things that might seemingly be contradictory are that to live an extraordinary life, you're going to have to do Things that are more difficult than you think you're gonna have to do. You're gonna have to work harder, you're gonna have to build a stronger mindset, you're going to have to push through really difficult moments, and you're gonna have to grind. At the same time, I also believe that you're probably gonna have to play more than you think to have an extraordinary life. And so, really, the know if the right word is paradox, but I'm gonna use it. But the paradox of like how am I stretching and grinding and pushing and then how Am I also playing and relaxing and flowing and learning to do those two in tandem as appropriate? Which again, going back to the ping-pong thing, do we ever know exactly when it's appropriate? I don't think so. I think it's an experiment. so yeah, I would say that's what it takes, and each person is gonna be. on their own journey with that, but to not be afraid of doing things that are really hard. And that's one of the things like growing up as an athlete that and there's probably a lot of I mean the freaking athlete to entrepreneur pipeline is like so real.
Jaden Hummel: It's insane.
Kendall: It's so real. But it's true, like when you grow up as an athlete, like you learn that with your body and with your mind and like being able to do things that you're like, dude, I can't possibly do that. And then you do that and you're overcome. I think many people Who are athletes as children or as young people, they lose that as they get older because they stop playing the sport and then they stop showing up in that way in other areas of their life. But when you take that resilience and that grit into every area, I think for me that's personal excellence. Like the way I show up in jujitsu or the way that I showed up in wrestling is the same way. I
show up in every other area because it's a standard, it's not an assignment. It's a standard of who I want to be. And then that being said, it's like I've learned that the more I bring in play, the more I bring in curiosity, the more I bring in love. I perform better because I have better ideas and I'm looser and I'm more connected. so that balance I think is ongoing but it's what it requires.
Jaden Hummel: So good. my gosh. Thank you so much for coming on. I was like holding every single word that you were saying. I know that everybody listening to this, if they
Kendall: Ha ha ha so glad.
Jaden Hummel: don't already know you, they're probably like, my gosh, I love you. You're so amazing. You're so smart. I will definitely
Kendall: thanks.
Jaden Hummel: be listening back to this one because there's so many golden nuggets. I don't know if there's anything else that you want to share. I know you're doing some things in your world, it might be changing. but if you wanna, I'll definitely put your stuff in the show notes so that people can find
Kendall: Cool.
Jaden Hummel: you. But if there's anything you want to share, just any last little tidbit. bits or ways that people can connect with you or anything like that.
Kendall: Yeah. Yeah, awesome. No, mostly on Instagram. Like I play around on TikTok, I play around on YouTube. I used to do vlogs and my podcast is kind of on hold at the moment because I'm like I said, going through some transitions. But Instagram is where I'm the most active on a daily basis. And yeah, I would just say like that I hope that there's something that you took listening today that I would say like it's not like, find something helpful, but like if you find something that's like pulling your curiosity or pulling your attention, even if it Was a negative reaction of like, I don't really like that. Like it rubbed up against you weird. to me, like some of the best books I've ever read are like books that I didn't fully agree with because they made me think and they made me ask myself questions, even if I didn't agree with the author. I'm like, well, what do I really think about that? Why don't I like what he just said or whatever? and yeah, I would just say like follow the curiosity and follow the interest, because if you follow the energy, you're bound to usually when we feed into things that are energizing. we we get more energy. So hopefully there was something that I said that can push you in that direction. And I'm always looking for the same for myself too. So.
Jaden Hummel: Thank you so much for coming on and for everybody listening. If you are listening to this episode and you get something from it or you love it, feel free to, you know, reshare it, tag us, let us know what you took from it. And thanks for tuning in and thank you so much, Kendall, for coming on. Okay,
Kendall: Hey, thanks, Jaden.
Founder's Compass with Jaden Hummel: Thanks for tuning in to Congruent the Podcast. I hope you got so much from today's episode or even took one thing that will change your perspective. If you love today's show, it would mean the world if you went and left a five-star review. Reviewing the podcast allows us to get in front of more incredible people like yourself. Thanks for being here, and I'll see you in the next show.