Episode 11: Corey Vaughn; Putting a life jacket on self-doubt to live his dream as a pro water skier

[ROBOT]

 

From the minute we started the conversation, it was evident that Corey Vaughn is a philosopher. He also calls himself the “hippie husband” of his wife Amelia. It was almost surreal to reconcile the deep thinking man I was speaking to with the fact that he’s one of the best in the extremely intense sport of water skiing. And he is a really, really good water skier. He’s one of only a handful of skiers to have run all 6 buoys in the most difficult (41 off) pass, and he’s been on the podium in countless tournaments from Nationals to Pro Tour events. He knows a thing or two about performance under pressure and after learning that you can get burned out even when working on a passion, he’s pretty darn good at balancing his life. In this episode, he shares his practices on dealing with pressure, working through self-doubt and what it takes to keep showing up.

 

Additional subjects and links for show notes

 

Key topics:

 

What is the pandemic trying to teach us about nature and operating in the natural world

The nature of control and what we can’t control

The potential for synergy in the current situation

The early questions that caused him to question his “indoctrination”

Developing a sense of curiosity, questioning and skepticism

The huge choice he made to follow his water skiing dreams instead of focusing on a traditional career

Putting a “life jacket on his self doubt”

His primary tool in overcoming fear of failure

Learning to turn the volume knob on the sensations of survival mode

Meditation and other ways of being still and challenging his mind

His core life philosophies – including everything from Taoism to Stoicism to Buddhism and more

Where he feels the most pressure

Skiing with his granddad

In skiing, “you can love the people more than the performance”

The events that surrounded his running 41 off in a tournament

The challenges of working through plateaus and the feeling of being stuck

Even with that achievement, looking to test his limits on the ski

Some of the thinking and comparing traps it is easy to fall into

His awareness of his own mortality – at the age of 34

Life as a dance

Water skiing as a mirror to life

 

Website: https://www.peaceloveandwaterskiing.com/

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peaceloveandwaterskiing/

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/corey.v.humburg