00:00Hey, I'm Dan Bova, and welcome to a special episode of How Success Happens, coming to you from NFL Draft
00:08Day here in Pittsburgh.
00:10Tonight, a lot of lives are going to change in ways that people cannot imagine when they hear their names
00:16called.
00:17And earlier today, I sat down with a player who heard his name called almost 10 years ago,
00:23legendary tight end George Kittle from the San Francisco 49ers,
00:28and his wife, Claire Kittle, talked about what that moment was like
00:32and how they have used his platform to build brands and businesses that continue to score touchdowns.
00:47Hey, it's Dan coming to you live from my basement here in New York,
00:52slightly less glamorous than the NFL Draft red carpet.
00:55So I just wanted to set the scene a little bit more before we dive into my interview with George
01:02and Claire Kittle.
01:03So while I was on the red carpet, I saw dozens of men who within a matter of hours or
01:09days would be signing contracts
01:11that come with bonuses in the millions or tens of millions, not to mention officially achieving their childhood dreams.
01:19So I started our conversation by asking George what he thinks the best way to keep a level head
01:27when you reach that first big success and how he blocks out all the noise.
01:33Find that first sense of success and you're like, you're feeling yourself.
01:39I think that's when you work twice as hard.
01:41So then that you get to experience that continued success and you get to continue to experience all the fun
01:47things that come with success.
01:49Because anybody can be successful once or for a couple of days.
01:52It's that like, what are you going to do to be successful over 10 years of your life?
01:55Right.
01:56Or your career.
01:56And so like when you feel that work way harder.
01:59So you continue to feel that it continues to grow and it continues to grow.
02:03Because, yeah, I mean, it's fun to be successful for, you know, one season.
02:06But the guys who could do that in your whole life, in your whole career, then you're going to be,
02:11hey, when you want to retire, you can retire when you want to retire.
02:13We do fun things.
02:14No, we want to do fun things.
02:16And you're not going to always have to work as hard as you possibly have to for your entire life.
02:20Right.
02:21That's great.
02:21And I love what you said about quieting and noise when it's go time.
02:27The big question is how?
02:29Like, do you have a pregame ritual?
02:31Like, all of us feel so distracted.
02:33How do you quiet all that stuff?
02:35Um, for me, like on a football field, my biggest thing is that I learned really early on was, uh,
02:41you want to keep the off the field noise as quiet as you can.
02:45So like, you don't want to cause your own distractions.
02:47You don't want to make like lifestyle mistakes that you have to then worry about while you're at work.
02:52You don't have to deal with crazy situations when you're at work, because if you can't be 100% at
02:58work, then you obviously can't be your best.
03:00If you're not going to be at your best, the next guy that the team brings in is going to
03:03take your job from you.
03:04And then you're gonna have way more things to worry about.
03:06And so, um, it started off with like a really close set circle between Claire, me, my dad, my agent.
03:12And so you like to keep other people, you know, from getting into the circle and like, they can always
03:17keep you humble.
03:17They can always give you good advice and they can always just keep your head on straight.
03:21And so if you can limit that off the field noise, you have tight circle behind you, then you can
03:25go be your best self every single day.
03:26Cause football's really, it's really hard.
03:29And if you're worried about all this other crazy stuff going on, you just, you're going to lose your job.
03:34So this mindset translates from athletics to business, and that doesn't just go for George.
03:39It also goes for Claire, former college basketball star and current entrepreneur and fitness influencer.
03:46So I wanted to know from them both, when did you first get bit by the business bug?
03:52Oh, wow.
03:52We both were entrepreneurship minors.
03:55Yeah.
03:56I learned the university of Iowa.
03:57So we had that in us.
03:59I learned, I learned, I learned more in those eight classes.
04:01I didn't.
04:01But obviously it comes with, like I said, out there, his success on the field gives us more
04:10of a market off the field to do things.
04:12So first and foremost, when you're a professional athlete, that's the most important thing.
04:17But I think when he's done, obviously we both have the entrepreneurial spirit.
04:22So that will just continue something that we've always kind of done.
04:25Um, yeah.
04:27Yeah.
04:28I, I didn't, I had, um, I had a good season, 2018, and then I got to do some marketing
04:33stuff,
04:33you know, a little bit after that.
04:35Uh, and I was just kind of excited about the opportunity to work with other brands and,
04:40you know, got to wear like a polo with a candy on it and go do like media row at
04:44the
04:44Superbowl, which was pretty fun for me.
04:46Cause it was the first time I've ever done anything like that.
04:47Yeah.
04:48And, uh, it just, just kind of grown from there.
04:50And, you know, like she said, um, the only reason brands want to work with you usually
04:53is if you're really good at football.
04:55And like, we have, we're very, very aware of that.
04:58And so like, while I thoroughly enjoy running with all these brands and being able to do
05:02fun stuff, uh, shoot fun commercials, do fun marketing stuff.
05:06Like I, those opportunities come because of what I do on football field.
05:09And so that is like priority number one.
05:11And then all the other things kind of come with it.
05:13And I just, you know, we still, we're very good if we throw our authentic selves at it
05:17every single time as best we can.
05:19Um, but we always do it, uh, in a way that doesn't take away from me training for football
05:25or my focus when you have football.
05:26Yeah.
05:27So, uh, you mentioned football is hard.
05:30Um, so how do you, both of you, and so is business.
05:34So how do both of you push past those things that aren't so fun or aren't so glamorous and
05:40you don't feel like doing it?
05:42What do you use as an internal motivator to get through that stuff?
05:47For me, it's, you know, whatever comes with this job, it was my dream when I was a kid.
05:52And so it's just all an opportunity to get better.
05:54And it's all a challenge, you know, um, waking up early, doing the training, doing the rehab.
05:59Like when I'm in the off season and my schedule runs from 7am till 3pm on an, in an off,
06:06like
06:06an off season, I'm like, Hey, it's what I signed up to do.
06:10Like, why would I not want to do this?
06:12Whether it's, you know, extra bad, the ugly.
06:14Yeah.
06:14Whether I, you know, have to do a really hard workout.
06:17I have to go run in the Tennessee heat in July to get in shape for training camp.
06:21Like, yeah, it's not, you know, incredibly fun, but it's a part of my job.
06:24And if I want to be the best at what I do, you know, I want to do that to
06:28the best of
06:28my capabilities.
06:29So it's pretty hard.
06:30It's sorry.
06:30It's, it's very easy for me to roll out of bed every single day.
06:33Like I put my feet down, my elbows, like, Hey, I woke up today.
06:36The sun is shiny and I play football.
06:37Then I wanted to ask about anxiety, something that manifests itself on the football field
06:43and in the boardroom.
06:45I dealt with really bad sports anxiety at college and it really affected, like I couldn't
06:49play.
06:50I was like freaking out.
06:51And as a sports psychologist gave me the idea of, uh, I used to tape when I've taped my
06:56wrist, I used to draw a big red button here as a reset.
06:58So after every play, good or bad, I have reset it.
07:00And you'd see me in college, I'd physically hit my wrist all the time.
07:03And so then my first tattoo show you is, uh, Heath Ledger's Joker.
07:09And so there's part of alter ego, but it's part of the other one.
07:11But so I, the only thing that's read on it is that, and like, you'll see now I have a
07:15football field and I'll like stop it as like a reset button.
07:18So like, let's just say you miss a block one play and you're like, Oh shoot.
07:23Uh, like my coach is going to be so mad at me.
07:25And then the next play you're thinking about missing that block and they try to throw you
07:28the ball and you drop it.
07:29Now you have two bad plays in a row and everybody has bad plays.
07:32Like that's it's football.
07:34I have had that place and like how you stay successful in football is that you have less
07:38bad plays than the guy across from you.
07:40And if you could just, you know, then so once you flush it, then every single play is a fresh
07:45start and worry about the film tomorrow.
07:48Like if you drop the pass, worry about that tomorrow because you're in the NFL.
07:50I know you catch a ball, just go catch the ball.
07:53Like you've done it a thousand times, but like what prepares you for those big moments, um,
07:57is like what you do, like I never just talked about like, what do you do when the lights
08:00are not, what do you do in the dark?
08:01Well, like for me is I go run all of the routes that I know I'm going to run throughout
08:05the
08:05course of a season.
08:06I run those a thousand times each regardless in the whole off season.
08:10Like my April, May, June, July is me running routes four times a week, three, four times
08:15a week.
08:15I'm running 30 before your hours a day, no matter what I'm catching the ball a hundred plus
08:19times a day, no matter what.
08:20So then when the lights are on and I need to make a play on fourth down and my number
08:24is called, I've done it 10,000 times.
08:27And like, that's where it's, it's not big anymore to me.
08:30It's this, I've done it so many times.
08:31Just go play football.
08:32Just go catch the ball.
08:34Like, you know what you're doing.
08:34Hey, you have a one-on-one pass pro versus a Pro Bowl defense event.
08:38And I play tight at it.
08:39Bring it.
08:39I've done it a thousand times.
08:41You have victories and then sometimes you don't.
08:43Yeah.
08:43So, uh, how do you support each other during the great times and the disappointments?
08:50I think we take the, the great times, um, and are just so appreciative of them and really
08:57try to soak them all in.
08:58We're really good at like looking around, taking in the moment and being happy and appreciative
09:03that this is our life and that you have the opportunity to play and big time games, um,
09:09or be around big time business people.
09:11And it's kind of like a pinch me moment sometimes.
09:13So it's never like a, a negative thing in that way.
09:18And obviously those opportunities help overcome the, the not so great ones.
09:23Yeah.
09:24But also failure teaches you a lot.
09:26And so you get better.
09:28So after flushing those moments, it's up to us to motivate ourselves to get back in the
09:35right headspace.
09:36Now, for those of you like me who aren't professional athletes, sometimes it can be hard to find the
09:44mantra that really immediately works and psychs ourselves up.
09:49So fortunately I had George and Claire and I asked them to share a few words of encouragement
09:56that they live by that we can maybe use ourselves in those moments when we need it most.
10:03I'm a little more, uh, cutthroat to the point you got this, you were, you've been training
10:10forever for this moment, go out and seize it or they're going to happen.
10:14So you, you choose your fate kind of moment.
10:17I like that.
10:18Uh, one of my big ones is you've been prepared for this.
10:22You've gone through hours of it.
10:23I want you to lock in.
10:24I want you to focus up.
10:25I want you to get the job done.
10:26Uh, doesn't matter what they do, as long as you perform at your best, the success will
10:31come no matter what the outcome is.
10:33As long as you're at your best, you can go to sleep tonight and you can go have a great
10:36time, but all you need to do, lock in, focus up, get the job done.
10:40And then to wrap things up, if you know, George Kittle, you know, that he loves to lay out defensive
10:47players while blocking for all he does with the ball in his hands.
10:51He takes just as much pride in the dirty work.
10:54So I had to ask him the question that every tight end revels in, who is your favorite player
11:01to lay out?
11:02Ooh, everyone.
11:06Um, everybody, I would say like the most fulfilling is when you can get a defensive lineman on the
11:11ground because I weigh 240 pounds.
11:13And if you can pancake a guy that's turning to 300 pounds, it feels pretty good.
11:16Or when I get my hands on like a DD who weighs like 180 pounds, they talk crap to you
11:22all
11:22day about how fast they are.
11:23And I finally get my hands on them and I flat back them and you feel the exhale and their
11:28soul kind of leaves their body.
11:29That is, that's a highlight reel for me.
11:32Well, thanks to George and Claire and U S bank for setting up the chat.
11:37And thank you, George.
11:38George was kind enough to offer me the out to become a 49ers fan and abandon my beloved
11:46and beleaguered New York jets.
11:48But George, I'm going to give them one more season and then maybe I'll take you up on that
11:52offer.
11:52All right.
11:52Well, let us know as always, what you thought about the episode.
11:56Let us know in the comments, subscribe, like do all those things, and we'll see you next
12:02time.
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