April Shprintz recently met one of her heroes, Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, who shared tons of important life lessons in their short conversation. In this episode, she shares two of the most incredible things Rudy told her that could elevate anyone’s mindset practice.
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How Mindset Got “Rudy” Ruettiger On The Field at Notre Dame And Into The Movies
I have had an incredible conversation and I cannot wait to share it with you. It illustrates in the best ways all of the things that we’ve been talking about. I love it when an example is from someone else. Also, when an example is from years ago and lets you know how long the mindset has been working for folks, even before it was mainstream and even before people were talking about it.
They say don’t meet your heroes. I could not disagree with that more because every time I’ve met a hero, I have been bold over. In this episode, I got to do that. I got to meet a hero, Daniel Rudy Ruettiger. If you’ve seen the movie, Rudy, if you are a college football fan, a Notre Dame fan, and an inspiration fan, it is the most incredible movie. If you haven’t seen it, they have a director’s cut out now for the 30-year anniversary. Do yourself a favor and watch that movie because it is life-changing.
I remember every detail about seeing that movie and how much it felt like things were possible for me because of what Rudy was able to accomplish. If you’re not familiar with the story or you haven’t seen the movie, Rudy is someone who wanted to go to Notre Dame, but suffered from dyslexia, came from a family of very humble means, and had so many challenges that would keep him from being able to go to that school. He also wanted to play football for Notre Dame. He happened to be a little on the short side and a little on the light side but wanted that dream more than he focused on all the reasons that he might not be able to get it. It is an incredibly inspirational story. There was so much in this conversation that got me inspired and fired up.
Rudy Ruettiger: Rudy has an incredible ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
There could be ten episodes of lessons on the different things that he shared. I wanted to share what I thought would be the two most incredible things for you in your mindset practice. The first is this. Rudy has an incredible ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. The first question I asked him was about who inspired him when he was younger because he is someone who inspired hundreds of millions of people. I wondered, “Who did that for you?” The first person you mentioned was Mickey Mantle, which made sense, especially for the time period, and was one I would expect.
The second one he said was, “Also my mailman.” I thought, “What?” Thinking back people had a lot more of a personal relationship with their mail carrier at that time. He said, “This guy who brought us our mail, he was amazing. He was super friendly. His big dream in the world was actually to see the White Sox and the Yankees play.” I always thought that was incredible. He was very inspiring to me too. I thought, “That says so much about being able to find happiness, to find fulfillment, to find joy in things that other people would just pass over and take for granted.” That was honestly a way of having a gratitude practice before that was even a thing. It comes full circle because Rudy seeing things and thinking about things that way is how the Rudy movie was even made.
There are so many things in life that bring us joy and fulfillment. However, we pass over or take for granted most of them. Share on XIt’s funny, he said to me that one of the things that he thought when he was younger and saw the movie Rocky was, “I want to make a movie like Rocky.” Many people might think that Hollywood came knocking on Rudy’s door, but they didn’t. He wanted to make a movie of the story to inspire and help people. He’s all the way in California. He’s supposed to have a meeting with one of the executives that’s going to get the movie made and they didn’t show up. After he realized that they weren’t going to have the meeting, he walked out. He’s down, that was a big blow to not be able to have this meeting.
He happens to run into another mail carrier. This mail carrier had this great demeanor, this great energy, and this great smile. Rudy stopped and said, “You have this awesome energy. I love your smile.” He started talking to him and complimenting him on the way that he was just going about life. Who would’ve done that? Who would’ve taken that time when they just had a big blow about their dream to focus on someone else, how happy they were, and how they were just spreading joy in the world that Rudy did? What’s amazing about that is he also shared what had happened to him, and that mail carrier happened to know where that executive lived and he took Rudy there. They had that meeting, and that is how the movie was made. That’s exactly what Rudy says, “That mail carrier is the reason the movie got made.”
Isn’t it funny that a person that someone else may have overlooked, someone who they may have said was ordinary and they would’ve paid no attention to is the person who helped an extraordinary thing happen? It’s because Rudy was focused on spreading joy, giving a compliment, and having gratitude for the things that were happening around him that he did want, even when at the very same time things were happening that he didn’t want. I want you to think about that. I want you to think about the power that we all have that has been here since the very beginning. It is to get the things we want most in the world by being grateful for what we already have and focusing on those things that we’re grateful for. Here’s to your success.
