This is the accidentally intentional podcast. I'm your host, Joe. I hate small talk, and I'm ready to have meaningful conversations that build us. Let's go. I've been looking forward to this conversation for a while. I had the pleasure of meeting steel Johnson a couple months ago. And when I heard his story, I was like, Oh my gosh, this guy needs to be on the podcast. But let me tell you a little bit more about who steel is steel Johnson is in the Olympic diver who won the silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He graduated Purdue University with five individual NCAA titles and a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Film and Video studies. He has a huge passion for sports and art. But ultimately, steel wants everyone that he meets to know that they are valued not for just what they do, but who they really are at their core. So this conversation is one that will surely encourage all of us. So without further ado, let's dive into my conversation with a Olympic medalist steel Johnson. Guys, I am really thrilled today, because if you know anything about me, you know that I'm obsessed with the Summer Olympics. And we have the honor and great privilege of having not just an Olympic athlete representing the United States of America, we actually have a silver medalists from the 2016 Rio Games, steal, say hello to the accidentally intentional family. Everyone, what's up, I'm excited to be a part of the show. So thank you for having me on. It's a pleasure, my friend. And for those of you who are watching on YouTube, I'm donning my Olympics gear, but still show them how you are able to easily one up me with your Olympic skier. So I don't have to wear a shirt. I just have it tattooed on my skin all the time. So if I ever forget to wear my Olympic gear, it's like, no, I didn't forget, I've got it on all the time. Such a flex, I can't handle you. So steel, you have quite an incredible story and an incredible name. Like obviously, you were destined to be an Olympian with that name right there. But people who may know, you know that you got a medal at the Olympics. But it's been quite a ride for you leading up to that, and certainly quite a ride for you ever since that point. And so I would love if you can give people a quick rundown of your life from 2016 to now. Yeah, so I think to get to 2016 Just a quick backstory of how I became a diver, I would always go to the neighborhood pool every summer and just dive off the diving board constantly. And my parents could never get me off the board. And I started teaching myself tricks and my mom got nervous that I was going to hit the board. So she signed me up for lessons just to have some sport to do. I clearly love doing it. But it was something I could learn to enjoy while doing it safely. And long story short, turns out I was just really naturally gifted at that sport. And I was in the right place at the right time. I got seen by the right people at USAA diving at such a young age. And so I joined the national team in Indianapolis at age 10. And I pretty much from there on trained full time, up until I got to college. And so when I was in college, I went to Purdue University because one of the divers at Purdue had just come off the London Olympics, Dave Obadiah. And he won a gold medal at that Olympics. And I had this dream of going to the Olympics, I wanted that dream to be a reality. And I knew if I was going to make that reality anywhere, it was going to be at Purdue under the Olympic coach next to an Olympic champion. And, you know, after a long series of events, I ended up doing Synchro with David with that Olympic champion. So not only was I trying to achieve this Olympic dream, I was getting to learn from an Olympic champion and dive alongside of him and compete alongside of him. And so with all of that experience, I was able to go to my first Olympic Games and win a medal alongside David. And it was just such a cool experience because there's so many highs and lows leading up to the Olympics. I feel like every elite athlete has this desire to be the best. And in the sport of diving, being the best is getting to the Olympics. And my goal really wasn't to win an Olympic medal. I just wanted to get to the Olympics, I had worked so hard to make that dream a reality. And so when I got there, and I was able to not only perform well but when a silver medal and not only win a silver medal, but when it alongside the person that's been mentoring me and teaching me so much throughout the years, it was just such a special moment. And so when I achieved that I just kind of felt like it was the icing on the cake. Any 20 year old at the Olympics is just excited to be there. But to walk away from it with a medal and performing well. It just really made the whole experience more than I ever could have dreamed. And I had a goal of doing that again in 2020. And so for those four years leading up to 2020 I was training hard I was on the internet Journal circuit. But in 2018, I had a foot injury that I was actually dealing with well before the 2016 Olympics, but it had gotten to the point where I needed surgery, and I got the surgery, something happened with the surgery recovery process went really wrong, I needed a second surgery. And same thing happened with the second surgery, something went really wrong. My foot just wasn't healing, but I was still diving on it because I wanted to make this Olympic dream a reality. Again, I had already gone I had already done it, I had already meddled. But it's kind of this feeling of, oh, it's never enough, you, you achieve something you never think you're actually going to achieve. And then you want something beyond that. And it just keeps stacking. And so it was a tough thing for me at this Olympic trials in 2021, I actually had to pull out of the event because my foot was just too injured to continue diving, I could barely even walk in at that point. If I were to dive well at trials and qualify for the team, I would have to continue diving another month and a half to two months to actually get to the Olympics. And it just wasn't making any sense. And so I had to step away from that and got a third surgery. And thank the Lord, this time, the surgery is actually working, and there's healing actually happening in the foot. And it's, there could be a whole podcast on just this foot injury. And like a case study from a science perspective, it's been absolutely wild. But to see that it's actually healing now is re sparking my love for diving, something. I was just trying to push through this pain to achieve a dream I achieved at once but wasn't able to achieve it a second time. But the dream didn't die. And now getting back into the sport being healthier every single day. I feel like my mind sets a little different of I'm going to push through to be the best because I want to get back to this level. Now my mindset is I'm so thankful I can even stand on my feet and walk. If I'm able to dive I'm gonna dive because I love the sport. I haven't been able to do it for so long. And I don't feel like I have anything to prove. I think there's this big mentality that if you get hurt, a lot of athletes want to prove something when they come back. I'm not here to prove anything I've done more than I ever thought I would. I just want to get back on the board because I love the sport. I love flipping. I love being able to travel. But yeah, it's it's been a journey from the year 2016 To now 2022 with lots and lots and lots of downs. But thankfully, I've had awesome people around me to, to pick me up when I couldn't even pick myself up fit physically, metaphorically, everything along the way. It's been a journey for sure. Yeah, that's an incredible story. And I definitely want to unpack a lot of it. Because what people could be hearing was you finish by saying there's been a lot of downs. But that's not the whole story, right? Because people only see this snapshot of this title that's attached to your name. Hi, I'm an Olympic medalist, steel Johnson. And I can see how easily you could create an identity within that. And so that becomes you, then you're getting all of these, you know, sponsorships brand deals, all these interviews after you get this. And then when you try and come back to it, you know, four years later, that stripped from you? How did you deal with this new identity you were given whether it was your decision or not. And then trying to figure out who is Steele Johnson really outside of the Olympic diver. I think the biggest thing for me was I had people around me that helped me understand before the 2016 Olympics, that my identity was not in what I do. But it's in Jesus, it's in Christ. And so going into that Olympics, I had this mindset of my title is going to change if I qualify for the Olympics, if I win a medal, but who I am is not going to change. Jesus doesn't change just because my situation in my scenario does. And that's really easy to apply. When you are on the mountaintop, when you're winning an Olympic medal. It's easy to say All Glory to God, it's really tough to say All Glory to God, when you are at your low when you are having to pull out of the Olympic trials because you can't even walk. You've been spending years and years and years doing the same rep like repetition over and over and over to be good at this one thing. And that thing's pulled out from underneath you. And to top it all off, you can't even put pressure on your foot for four months. It's this thing of if I didn't know that my identity was in Jesus and not in this status of Olympian, I would have not been able to make it through this past season of life because that's a tough thing a lot of people deal with you hear about this post Olympic depression that a lot of people experience. I didn't experience it. I think it's because I went to the Olympics. And I did more than I thought I was going to I was so excited. But I had this foundation of man I'm loved. I'm seeing I'm a child of God and He knows me. And that carries through year after year after year. And it's again, like I said, easy to say that when you're on the mountaintop. It's really challenging to say that when you're not on the mountaintop when you're in the valley, but that's The important thing about having people around you, like my wife, my teammates, people from church family members is you need that support system to help you get through those times where the media is not paying attention to you, sponsors aren't paying attention to you, Instagram followers aren't paying attention to you, because you physically can't do what you once were able to do. And so I've been blessed with people like my wife and teammates I've had in the past to really instill that identity in me when I needed it most. I love that. Now, I kind of want to ask your perspective on this because we live in a society where if you meet someone new, one of the first questions that's asked you is, what do you do? And we become defined by what we do. So whether they're an Olympian or not, how would you encourage somebody who's really struggling with this identity piece right now to find their identity elsewhere? Like, how did you reach that point where you're like, you know what, like, it's one thing to be like, Yeah, I know, like a child of God. But it's another thing to believe it and fully live that out. So I would love to hear how you were able to ingrain that deeply inside of your soul. I think the big thing for me was the person that really showed me what that looks like, was my teammate, David, who had just won an Olympic gold medal in 2012, he had been to the 2008 Olympics. And I was able to dive alongside of him. And I had the same goal as him as I want to get to this 2016 Olympics and perform well. But he was really living that out of he had an Olympic gold medal, everything I would ever want the sport of diving, and he was the one telling me it's not what you think it is. It's it's not something that's going to hold weight forever, but living for Jesus living in a way that you try to live, love and look like Jesus, that's what's going to last. That's what is so important. And it's one thing to hear it. But it's another thing to see someone walk that out every single day, having already achieved what you want to achieve. Sure, that's, that's so good. Because there's such a freedom in that, right. We're like, I don't have to perform, because I already have an identity that's outside of any performance I've ever done. So I love that so much. How did winning not become everything to you in the middle of this? I think it's just the reality of the situation in the sport of diving specifically is that people care about the sport of diving for two weeks, every four years, whereas I care about it all the time. I'm working hard in the pool six days a week, many hours a day, I'm studying video, I'm trying to figure out how am I going to make this stuff better? This competition, what's my schedule gonna look like, but most people just see the Olympics. And that's it. And when we're diving at the Olympics, in the event, I meddled in, it was a total of 10 to 12 seconds of actual diving. Well, I got me the middle way. And I think one of the big things that back to my teammate, David, he told me at my first World Cup in 2014, we were standing up on the 10 meter. And there were these basketball courts behind the pool that people were playing basketball that it was nighttime in China. And to me, this was the biggest moment in my life, I was like, I'm at the World Cup. You know, if we do this, well, we could win a medal. And he's looking at me and he knows I'm nervous. And he's like, pointing off to the basketball players. He's like, look at them down there and look over and he's like, they don't care about this dive we're about to do. He's like, it might seem big right now. But in the grand scheme of things, this is not as important as he thinks. So just relax and go Enjoy this dive. And I think being able to hear the Olympic champions say that to me, as I'm so nervous for what I thought was going to be the biggest moment in my life was really encouraging to me of, I could do the most amazing thing I've ever done. And there's still people that have no idea who I am or what I've done. And that really made me understand that this world doesn't revolve around me, the sport of diving doesn't revolve around me, my story doesn't revolve around me. But I've got to keep that focus on Jesus, I've got to keep my life centered around him. Because at the end of the day, that's what I'm doing all this for. It's not to get awards and accolades. Because someone's going to come along and get more awards and get more accolades and be a better athlete. And that's just the cycle of sport, the cycle of any job or career field, really, people create something new. 10 years later, someone comes along and creates something newer and better and makes it faster and more efficient. We can't let that hit our pride. But we have to celebrate those people and to be able to do that. It's got to come from being deeply rooted in knowing who you are and who's you are. Wow, that's amazing. And what a testament to David's leadership to be able to steer you around that from his own worldview he was able to gain through those Olympic Games. That's incredible. I guess I would love to know. Now you have Well, I would say currently right and correct me if I'm wrong, you are in the middle of a comeback. And you are trying to compete in the next Olympics. How were you able to go through to Answer not one to unsuccessful surgeries, and bounce back mentally first, like not even physically from the mental standpoint. What made you keep pursuing it and believing? No, there has to be an answer. There has to be healing. I'm capable of doing this because that is quite a mountain of a mental hurdle, hurdle for a lot of people. Yeah, I think one of the big things is, it is really easy when things get hard to just stop and to quit and say I'm done. It could have been really easy for me to pull out of Olympic trials and say, I'm retired due to injury. But there's this piece of me that knows that there's blessing beyond the challenge. And so something that's really pushed me through this recovery process is knowing that a year from the surgery, I'm going to be in a much better place physically than I was, when this started. That's not all coming from my own mindset. A lot of this is my wife, constantly encouraging me constantly motivating me to remember my goal of getting back on the boards and getting back to competition. And, yeah, it's really easy to skip out on physical therapy, when you're doing stuff on your own. During this time period, my wife and I moved from Indiana, and my athletic trainer, my doctors, everything, we're all in Indiana, now we're living in Tennessee, and I had to find a new athletic trainer, I'm still working with the same doctors, but it they're now a flight away. And so it's really easy for me to just not do the things I need to do. But if you have this goal, you have any goal really. And you keep focused on that, you know, day after day after day, and you have people that hold you accountable to following that goal and working on that goal. That's what helps you continue to push forward. And I'm not gonna lie, there was a period after the third surgery where I was really down and my wife could see it, she could feel it. And there was just a period where I was like, I don't know, if I'm gonna walk again, like my foot is swollen the size of a balloon, the other two surgeries, even though they failed, I was able to walk by this time, why can't I walk out? Why can I do this. And it's just that gentle reminder of keep trusting the process, just because things looked one way before doesn't mean they're gonna look that way, this time. And it might take longer, it might be slower. But you've got to continue to trust the process. And for me, that's been a lot of trusting that the Lord is a redeemer is a healer. Even though I've not experienced that miraculous healing, like I've seen with other people, he still heals he still provides. And so it's one of those things where I just have to take it one step at a time, metaphorically and physically. Wow, that's thank you for sharing this steel. That's so inspiring, because that's the thing is right. The miracle is that God is faithful. Not even that healing is guaranteed, you know, 100% of the time on Earth. It's the fact that God is still with us in spite of everything else. So I love that you are a living testament to that. I guess I have two questions around the people you surround yourself with. And so the first question was, say there is someone who really needs a community right now. How did you find these amazing people in your life? And how did you know which ones were the best people to surround yourself with? Yeah, I think it just comes from a lot of trial and error. So I think one of the things people don't know about me is that I'm pretty introverted. I wouldn't know. Yeah. And so a lot of people think I'm extroverted. And it's just because I've been in the public eye ever since I was a kid. I've been traveling international for competitions since the age of nine. And so it's just kind of been something I've been used to is talking to people talking to cameras, interacting with people. But at the end of the day, I'm not naturally someone that'll walk up to someone and just introduce myself, I love to be around people, but I need my time to recharge by myself. And I think finding community for me has just been focused around the church I've been a part of obviously, there's diving community, there's people that naturally you're going to be surrounded by whether it's at work or at training or things like that. But I think since we moved to Tennessee, especially getting involved in my church, the belonging co there have just been so many people that I've met that have really poured into me in a way that I really hadn't experienced in the past in terms of just general friendships, general community, there's always been those few handful people around me that have really poured into me and I poured into them. But I feel like a big majority of the people I've met since coming to Tennessee have been that way have been very intentional. And so if you are looking for community, I think a great place to start is at church. That being said, You're not going to perfectly mesh well with everyone. There's different personalities, right? Ways of Thinking ways of speaking. There's people I love that I just don't We connect super well with on the surface, and that's okay. It's okay to be different. It's okay to have differences. And so it's again, like I said, a lot of trial and error of just go to church, go meet people, join a Bible study, connect group, go to the Men's Morning Prayer, go to the women's morning prayer, go to Tuesday nights, whatever it is, wherever you can set yourself up, to introduce yourself to people or be introduced to people. And from there, you naturally just have conversation and figure out, do we have similarities? Do we not? Should we grab coffee? Should we not? You know, it's just, it's probably not the right answer for everyone. But for me, it's like, I got to meet people, and just have a conversation with them to see, do we mesh? Well? Do we connect well, and if not, do I know someone you might connect well, with, do you know, someone I might connect well, with, it's just this back and forth. But once you get to that point where you have people you just enjoy being around, that's when you can really start to get in the water with them and get to know their heart, get to know how you can serve them how you can love them the best you can because they're going to be doing the same for you too. And I just want to highlight what you just said is like how you can love and how you can serve people because that is clearly your heartbeat. And were created for meaningful connection, right? And so just because you don't jive well with someone that is not the end of the world. And I think that's where believers, we often get confused, because we're like, oh, no, like, we have to be everything to everybody. Yes, no, no, there were so many times when Jesus would literally be with a crowd of people. And then he said, I'm sorry, I got it. And he would be by himself separate with people to connect with just with God. And that's been teaching me so much lately, because we can be so bombarded if we don't take the necessary steps to make sure that we have an overflow, which we are giving out of. So we got to be connecting with Christ first, and then be able to serve and love the people in our lives really well. But it doesn't have to be everybody because that's literally physically impossible. Yeah, and Jesus even had a core group of people like obviously, yes, he was out healing and teaching to the masses, but he was also by himself a lot. And he was with his 12 Guys, too. And I think that's something that now being in Tennessee, I've seen as I've met a lot more people, but I'm out of the people I'm meeting, I'm finding my core group of people that I'm like, I need to be around you consistently to just grow and to just absorb what's coming out of your overflow. And they can do the same for me, vice versa, you find those people but it does take a little bit of that intentionality of stepping out of the comfort zone for someone like me who's introverted, and going to things I might not want to go to necessarily because I don't know anyone or I don't like that initial Hey, on steel, how are you? It can be awkward at times. But if you can push through that you're going to find your core group of people, and you're just going to see a lot more joy spill into every area of your life. I completely agree. And I kind of want to take a different angle on the same question now of you being an athlete, you being a competitor. If if I was in the same spot, and I needed friends who could be there to support me, during a season where I'm trying to make a comeback, okay, in whatever realm that looks like, what would you say are important things that those friends need to be able to do? Say, B, et cetera, to somebody who's really wrestling with this? I think they just need identity spoken into them consistently. It's not just like, once a week, they need this big talk where it's like, keep going, brother, you're gonna make it through. But it's more like, Hey, I see you, Hey, how you doing today? Hey, what is your goal? Long term, but also at the end of this week, what's one thing you want to grow in, in in terms of healing and recovery, like, something as simple as this week, I wanted to do a single leg hop on the ground. And I was able to do that. That was my goal for the week. So next week, I want to do that. But I want to do two in a row or five in a row or something like that. And maybe it's because I'm an athlete, and I'm very goal oriented. That's something that's been helpful for me of, Hey, are you doing okay? How's your foot feeling? How's your recovery going? But then also just being like, what do you think it's gonna look like a year from now? Give me the big picture. I'm a big picture guy. And so I love just whenever I'm down thinking about, Okay, what's it gonna feel like or look like a year from now? And it's, it's this weird thing of right now. I've got hardware in my foot and it can still hurt a lot while I'm walking and that can get me really frustrated. But then I've got to take a step back and think, Okay, five months from now, when that hardware is out, I won't be feeling exactly what I'm feeling anymore, and it's gonna feel better. Keep going, huh? That's really helpful. And I think about, you know, when you said, How's my foot? If I were texting you, every day, asking how things are going, I would think I'm annoying him and I need to stop asking. I want to ask you, as somebody who's been like, hurting physically? What's it like when you receive texts like that all the time? Is it annoying to you? And how can people navigate that? Again, I think every person is going to be different. And there's definitely a fine balance of you want to check in on people, especially your friends or people you're close with. But you don't want to overdo it. Because there might be days where all I want is just to not think about my foot, not think about this injury or recovery. And then I get six texts from different people, like how's your foot doing, and then I'm like, Ah, so it's definitely a fine balance. But a lot of that's just got to come from, I need to understand people reaching out to me is them, genuinely checking in on me, genuinely, on their end, they think I'm gonna love and serve steel today by seeing how he's doing. And they may, they may not realize that I've gotten six other texts this week. And now I'm like, flustered, but I can control that response. I think it's hard to do in the moment. But if I get a bunch of texts of the weeks, I just need to be thankful for the Lord that he's put people in my life that genuinely care genuinely check in. I think, at the end of the day, and if it's like once a week, or once every few weeks, I'm going to have progress for you. I'm going to be like, Oh, like this week, it was really hard. But the next week after I saw improvement, and feels better than it did two weeks ago, I think that's a good middle ground. If you're close with someone, you know, check in every couple weeks. That's just me personally, but you know, if if even you think about them, once every few months, you're like, oh, steel is going through that injury, I want to see how he's doing, send off the message. Because I don't think there's going to be harm in sending the message. But there could be harm in not sending a message and being like, Oh, does anyone care about me, anyone care about my recovery? And again, a lot of that comes back to we have the choice to choose how to respond to getting a lot of text messages. Yeah. And it definitely takes practice of not getting frustrated. Yeah. But at the end of the day, you just kind of know that people do care. And if there's someone you care about, that's going through something tough, they might be getting a million messages, but sending them an extra message will not hurt. Because at the end of the day, deep down, they're going to get that sense that people do see me people see me where I'm at. I think that's the biggest thing people want in this life is to be seen, heard, known and understood. And it can happen in a way that's just as simple as a thinking of your text. Yeah. I love that insight. And that's what it comes down to right is communication. Because, yeah, people do care. And at the end of the day, if you're close with someone, the ultimate goal is to know their heart. So if you know their heart is pure, you can easily have a conversation be like, Hey, I know your intentions, are this. That being said, here's how I'm feeling today, mentally. And I want to be a person who leaves no conversations left unsaid. So I would rather risk it like, and just hope they would communicate to me if it was annoying, or something like that. And something I've done that's that's helped me is, if I know something big has happened in someone's life, I'll put calendar reminders every couple of weeks, every month to be checking in on them to know like, Hey, I haven't forgotten about you. And you still are seeing you still are loved and I'm still on your team through it. Yeah, that's great. And I think it's something I'm actually horrible at is reaching out to people, I guess it's the introverted side in me that I'm like, I'm so bad at responding to text messages. I'm so bad at responding to DMS and whatever. And I'm so bad at sending them out. I'm trying to get better at them. I've got read receipts on now I've got all these different stuff as like accountability tools. But yeah, it is one of those tough things where you want people to reach out to you, but you never reach out to them. And so I think it's got to be this two way street of I'm going through something hard. I hope people reach out and just let me know that I'm seeing and I'm loved. Vice versa. You got to do that to them, too. You got to reach out to them and be like, hey, thinking about you hope you're doing well. Hope your recovery is going well. Whatever it may be for that person. Definitely. I love it. I love following you on Instagram because you were so candid about how you were feeling every single day. Like Wasn't it just yesterday where you're like, I do not want to be here working out today. But I used today. That was like five hours ago I didn't. I woke up I slept in. I woke up I was like I don't want to go to the gym. I'm so sore from yesterday. And my wife's like, I'm going at 930 and I was like, well now she's going I've got to go and you know she's training for like bodybuilding competitions. So go like inspiration every day of Okay. She is putting in way more work than I am. I went to the Olympics, I should be able to put in at least 10% of the average. So I'll go to the gym today. But there are those things where it's like, you might think someone's the most motivated person, they're going through this recovery. No, I A lot of times I'm not I hate going to the gym. I think I love diving and working out with diving. But I do not like lifting weights. I do not like cardio, I do not like anything to do with public gyms at all. I've trained in a private, you know, college gym for the past. Okay, diva. I know. And so I got accustomed to that. And now I'm in a public gym, where there's people taking your machine when you're halfway through your sets. And it's so it's, it's a way for me on Instagram to just be candid and let other athletes know, like, just because I went to the Olympics doesn't mean I'm the most motivated person ever, or that I love this recovery, or I'm super stoked on this comeback. It's like no 90% of the time, I'm not a lot of times, it's a choice I have to make to get out of my comfort zone and go back to the gym a place I really don't want to be to push through pain, I don't want to experience to get the health that I want to get. There's a lot of little goals that you have to accomplish to get to the big goal. And like I said earlier, I'm a big picture guy, I love the idea of I want to go to the Olympics. But I don't always want to do the small steps that it takes to get there. But I think having that ingrained in me from such a young age of do the little things do the repetition, year over year over year to get to your goals. That's what's helping me get through this recovery. But I want to be open about it on Instagram and on Twitter of like, Guys, this is not easy. You know, this is my third time going through it. And I'm sick of it. I'm over it. But I'm still here. I'm still fighting, and I'm still trying to trust the process. Wow. That's amazing. So you are a big picture guy. But I'm going to ask you to try and get inside the mind of somebody who isn't big picture. I'm pointing to myself, for those of you who aren't watching on YouTube. I'm very short, short sighted. I mean, I can say that very easily. I definitely unlike short term hurdle. Here it is. So what would you say to to encourage me in rewiring my brain to actually focus on the big picture and let the big picture drive me instead of the small little baby bumps in the road I have to go through in order to get there. Yeah, I would say first off, you have big goals Correct. You have things you want to achieve in your life. Yes. Write those down, put them somewhere where you see it every single day, I feel like a million people say the same thing. But it can be as simple as putting your phone background as a white background with black text that just says the thing you're working towards. And that's going to be a constant reminder of okay, I need to do the little things to get to this goal. Say I want to learn a new skill, let's just say it's like, I want to learn to do a kickflip on a skateboard. I can have this idea forever if I want to kickflip but if I never actually ride a skateboard, I'm never going to do a kickflip. Or if I want to go skydiving, but I never sign up and actually pay the money to go to the skydiving place. It's like I'm never gonna go skydiving. Yeah, for these things to happen, you've got to be reminded that they exist. And you've got to make a parent what the small steps are to get there. So in terms of diving, we have six dives that we compete in a list. For each of those six dives, you've got tons and tons of baby steps to get to that final dive. If if you want to do a front four and a half off 10 meter. That's an awesome goal. That's an awesome dive super scary dive. But it's an awesome dive. And if you want to achieve that just do the dive, you're not going to just go up to 10 meter and throw as many flips as you can and hope it's four and a half, you're going to start on the one meter, you're going to do a dive, work your way up three meter, five meter, seven meter, 10 meter, then you're going to do a flip, and then a one and a half, a two and a half, three and a half. And that's going to take months and months and months and maybe even years to get to that front four and a half. But if you're reminded of that goal every single day, you look at the 10 meter and think I want to do a front four and a half off of this thing. You've got to be reminded of your small goals that are going to help you get there. And so just put the goal somewhere in front of you where it's unavoidable. And it's just constantly going to burn in the back of your brain. And I don't know about you, but if I don't achieve something it eats away at me. And so if I see it in front of me, I A lot of times will stop what I was about to do and put a little bit of effort towards the small step that's going to help me get to that big thing. Yeah, that's that's so helpful. And it seems like the through line for you is also that you very openly welcome accountability in your life. And so I want to just like say to anyone who has this goal, don't be afraid to have these conversations with people and say, Hey, I need you to put me on the hook. Because quite honestly, I don't know if I can myself. Well that's Why in any sport, you've got coaches, right? You could be the best athlete in the world. But if you don't have someone holding you accountable to get the work done, you're never going to be able to achieve what you want to achieve. Because there were many days, even at the Olympics in training, where I did not want to do certain dives, because I was too nervous to do it. The wind was too much the lighting was weird. But my coach had written on the workout, you got to do three of all these dives. If I don't do them, I'm gonna have to answer to him. And he's gonna be like, Why aren't you doing them? You got to compete these tomorrow, things like that. So having that accountability, especially on the diving side with a coach or with an athletic trainer, who's going to be like, Did you do your stretches, no, you didn't do stretches, then don't complain to me. If your calf still hurts, or your Achilles still hurts, because there's people that give us the resources and give us the tools to succeed. But we've got to actually implement what they give us. So good, you can't say it any better than that. So steal, we started this conversation by talking about your identity as an Olympian. And so I kind of want to invert this at the end of this conversation now, and let you define who steal Johnson is now someone who wants to live love and look like Jesus. And at the end of the day, I want to do cool things, I went to an Olympics, I want to go to another Olympics, I want to make a documentary, I want to do all these different things. But at the end of the day, those aren't who I am. They're just things I do, we all have things we do. But they won't ever fully satisfy us. And we think they will, I thought going in and going to an Olympics and winning a medal would satisfy me. And then oh, I want to go to a second one and get another medal. And then if I go to the second one, I'm gonna want to go to a third, you write a movie, you're gonna be like, oh, I want to write a second one, we're gonna write a third one. Same with a book and all these different things. It's very fleeting. And so that's just what I want to do is, is live love and look like Jesus and let everyone around me know they're seen. They're heard. They're loved. And they're understood. What an amazing motto to live your life around. I love that. So I guess as we close, was there anything we didn't talk about that you would love to talk about or wisdom you would like to impart on the listeners, I think just ultimately do what you do, because you enjoy doing it. Have goals and work hard to achieve them. But hold everything with an open hand. Because there are going to be goals you have that you achieve, that will let you down. And there are going to be goals that you want to achieve that are going to slip away. And if you hold on too tight, it's going to drag you down with it. But if you hold it with an open hand, you can watch it fall away and leave space for something else or to recreate that goal and continue to work towards the new version of that. I love that so much. That's a way to end it. Steel. Where can people follow along your journey because unbelieving Jesus name we're gonna see in 2024 in Florence, baby. Yes. All my social media stuff is just at steel underscore Johnson, s t e l e, no one seems to know how to spell my name. I get tweets every week, where people will tag me in the tweet. And then type out my name afterwards and misspell it. So you know it is what it is. It's a unique name. I'm thankful for it. But there's a 30 Don't forget that 30 well steal you are incredible. I can't wait to cheer you on and continue to cheer you on weekly on Instagram. Thank you for how you love, live and lead and look like Jesus because you are inspiring all of us and everything you do. So thank you for being part of the accidentally intentional podcast. Thanks for having me. Was there someone that came to mind as you were listening to this episode? Because if so, please share it with them. We're so passionate about this message. If we want to give value to the people that would benefit from it. We drop a new episode every other Thursday, so be sure to subscribe to get the latest conversations. Oh, and one more thing. If you enjoy this episode and this podcast, I would be so honored. If you would leave a review. It helps us to better connect with the intended audience of this podcast by doing so. And I truly am so grateful for any amount of time that you choose to spend with me because trust me, I know how many options are out there and I do not take it for granted. Seriously, I just wow I just really appreciate you and take I may not know your name yet, but let's change that connect with me on Instagram at XO Asher, or on Twitter at combos with xo. But hey, even if I don't know your name yet, what I do know for certain is that you're amazing. I love you. You have something that the world needs and you are always more than enough. So hey, we'll see you next time on The accidentally intentional podcast.