Angela Gargano - Biochemist To 4x Ninja Warrior And Entrepreneur

[00:00:00] Scott: Hi, I'm Scott Fulton, the host of the Rebel Diaries podcast. This show will help you learn how to make work better for you, your colleagues and the organization you work for. I believe the modern workplace is broken for too many people with leaders and their teams, drowning in corporate complexity, information overload, and unnecessary levels of stress. 

[00:00:18] Scott: Having spent over 20 years leading disruptive high-performing teams who have won international awards for their impact. I've now dedicated my career to helping coach and train leaders and teams to deliver more value and impact at work whilst reducing the risk of burnout, overload, and wasted effort. 

[00:00:34] Scott: This podcast is dedicated to you and thousands like you who know work can and should be better.

[00:00:39] Scott: You'll get tips and insights from me as well as the amazing guests I invite to be the show, many of them have disrupted their industries and are thought leaders, speakers, and authors who have fascinating stories and advice to share. 

[00:00:50] Scott: Thank you for listening. I'm Scott Fulton and welcome to the Rebel Diaries show. "

[00:00:55] Angela: Am I screwed? Am I gonna actually be able to succeed in this?" But I stuck it out and after a while of sticking it out and just doing a really great job with that one person who kept showing up, another person came, and then another person told another person.

[00:01:09] Angela: All of a sudden it went from that one person to going to a giant group where I actually became so big there that I was like, I need to actually get my own space.

[00:01:19] Angela: But yeah, I've been taking it piece by piece with them again, celebrating their failures, telling them that you're not gonna have great weeks every week. It's gonna be hard. And when they stick through it they see so much more than just that.

[00:01:29] Angela: It sounds so wooooo. People are like, enjoy the process. It's about the journey. And everyone's okay yeah, but I wanna get there. 

[00:01:35] Scott: Angela drastically changed her career from biological chemists to four times ninja warrior and business owner. In this episode, she shares her journey. The ups and downs and how she kept going despite being at the lowest point in her life. 

[00:01:49] Scott: Hi Angela, welcome to the Rebel Diaries Podcast.

[00:01:53] Angela: Awesome. Thanks so much for having me.

[00:01:54] Scott: Where are you based right now?

[00:01:56] Angela: I'm actually in Austin, Texas.

[00:01:58] Scott: Brilliant. Have you lived there all your life?

[00:02:01] Angela: No, I literally just moved here a year ago. It's an amazing place to go, especially for entrepreneurs. So I'm definitely not moving after this. I love it here.

[00:02:10] Scott: So can you just start by telling us a bit about your life journey, how, the challenges the things you've been through to get to where you are now?

[00:02:17] Angela: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, my name's Angela Gargano. I'm actually a four-time American Ninja Warrior. And I also have created a program online to help women get their pull-ups. So I've helped over 500 women get their first pull-up. While that I'm able to have a business that creates a steady income doing that and it's really amazing.

[00:02:36] Angela: My journey didn't start an entrepreneurship though. I actually started as a biological chemist and that people are always really shocked to hear that cause they see all this fitness stuff and they just think I've been doing it for years and it. it. I started as a biochemist because my parents had told me that, being a personal trainer isn't a real job.

[00:02:57] Angela: So when I asked when I wanted to do that, they were like that's not a real job. You can't do that. You need to figure out something else. It's actually gonna bring you in money. And I was like, all so I'm like trying to think around about what it is that I could do. And for some reason I landed on science cause I just liked my science teacher.

[00:03:13] Angela: So I guess we'll do that. , which is super interesting. Wound up actually working in the field. So I worked at Brown University. I worked at a pharmaceutical company for a while, like full hazmat suit style, doing large scale pharmaceuticals. And as I was doing that, I was realizing that this is a hundred percent like, not what I wanna be doing.

[00:03:31] Angela: It's just not like I don't feel good. My, my mind's always somewhere else. I'm always thinking about, Some other thing. And after college I started doing fitness competitions, the ones where you're like doing cool routines on stage, so you're like flipping around and all this stuff like that.

[00:03:45] Angela: And, I started seeing this world and people kept asking me, how are you doing that? How are you looking so fit? How are eating all these questions. And I realized, you know what, I'm gonna get my personal trainer certification and I'm just gonna see where this goes.

[00:03:59] Angela: Luckily for me, I lived in, I, the job I was at was making a lot of money, so I was like, all right, I'm gonna save as much as I possibly can. And this way when I do leave, I can set myself up for success so that I am not just scrambling and wondering am I gonna have enough money to eat and stuff like that.

[00:04:17] Angela: So I saved up, I suck it out, and I saved up, I think it was like three months of rent that I saved. . So this way when I quit it really gave me the real opportunity to dig into what I actually wanted to be doing. And I feel like people don't talk about like that piece of the journey, especially like people will just be like, quit your job and do what you love.

[00:04:35] Angela: That sounds great. I get it. It totally does. But you also need to make sure you're set up cuz at the end of the day, like you need money to live, you need a place, you need food on the table, you need a place to live. I think making sure that, if you are in a job right now and you're thinking about actually, quitting and doing something else, just make sure that you're set up a little bit first before you just drop it.

[00:04:54] Angela: It's gonna help the process be a lot more, it's still gonna be hard, but it's gonna help you on the journey.

[00:04:59] Scott: And how did you find juggling the two for a period of time if you know you weren't motivated in the day job?

[00:05:05] Angela: It was so difficult. Like I really just didn't wanna be there. People knew it. And I honestly, I decided to tell myself, you know what? I'm a, I'm the kind of person who, like how I do one thing is how I do everything. I'm a hundred percent in everything I do. So the fact that I had to tell myself, you know what you need to give yourself.

[00:05:21] Angela: Just do 60% in this job and just stay in it and not actually it was really tough for me to do. Cause I, you know, know, I didn't wanna let anybody down, but I knew what the bigger picture was and I knew what I actually wanted to do. When I quit, I started, at a gymnastics gym. I was coaching gymnastics to kids, just to make, it was like think $15 an hour.

[00:05:38] Angela: And then on the side I would take the parents and I would train the parents of the kid of the students that I was at. So I had a really nice little deal with the gymnastics place, but at first, like I had no clients coming in. I had one person showing up to class that I was having for a couple of months and I had to sit back and.

[00:05:56] Angela: "Am I screwed? Is this not gonna actually am I gonna actually be able to succeed in this?" But I stuck it out and after a while of sticking it out and just doing a really great job with that one person who kept showing up, another person came, and then another person told another person.

[00:06:10] Angela: All of a sudden it went from that one person to going to a giant group where I actually became so big there that I was like, I need to actually get my own space. Like I can't stay here anymore. It's interesting too because for that, I feel like I, I thought that once you have a lot of clients, especially when you like or a personal trainer, the next step is like you, we obviously gotta open a gym.

[00:06:35] Angela: Like obviously, like that's just the next thing you're supposed to do again. Second, that is supposed to do type mindset. So I found a building, I don't even know how, I didn't know what I was doing and. got it, and decided I was just gonna open this gym. I had literally barely any equipment in there. I didn't know what I was gonna do.

[00:06:54] Angela: I was gonna set it up. I knew nothing about actually running a business. All I knew really was like how to be a personal trainer and really serve my clients. I didn't know any of the other stuff I would have to deal with, like taxes or, cleaning up the gym. Now dealing with like accountants hiring people.

[00:07:10] Angela: Literally went in like super blindly. But I think what's so interesting, and like you'll probably hear more and more about that's in my journey is I just went for everything. Even if I had no idea what I was doing, I was just like, you know what, we'll figure it out. Like you're gonna have to you have to figure it out.

[00:07:24] Scott: I'm interested in, there, there were two bits actually. The first bit around. The slow start. And did you get, everyone gets imposter syndrome, don't they? And were you, did you think about quitting? Did you come close to oh, it's not, I'm not getting traction quick enough.

[00:07:36] Scott: Did you like have a lot of self-doubt there?

[00:07:39] Angela: For sure. Definitely came close to just being like, Let me just go back to like it being a little bit easier and actually having a steady income and knowing where it's come from. And honestly, that's happened like multiple times in my journey, not just when I had that gym, but even later on, even two years ago, I was thinking the same thing.

[00:07:54] Angela: I was like, do I stop this? Do I just get a job? Look, I was like on LinkedIn, like looking for jobs. So you definitely get to that point in the journey because honestly, it's easier to not be an entrepreneur. It really is. It's easier to just have the income, have it coming in, knowing, things.

[00:08:09] Angela: That you have to stick through the excitement of entrepreneurship. And I normally have noticed when I was just about to quit and didn't wanna do it anymore as if I stayed a little bit longer normally, like there was something right there. Like I was almost onto something like almost there when it was getting really hard.

[00:08:26] Angela: So I always encourage people when you're in that moment of I wanna quit. Maybe I should just go back to a real job, whatever it is, like a real job. Just stay in a little bit longer after that cuz you might be surprised that normally that's when like the true, I call it the magic, the true magic actually happens when you stick through that really tough moment.

[00:08:45] Scott: The bit you said around. You just opened the building and almost didn't know you're like learning on the job. Do you think if you'd have spent too much time thinking about all the stuff in advance, you maybe wouldn't have done it? Is it almost like just do it and get, because it's that taking action, isn't it?

[00:09:02] Scott: Could we can frighten ourself out of doing end every anything potentially, can't we? If we just overthink it. So just interested how you flip that and just thought, screw it. I'm just gonna do it and then I'll work it out.

[00:09:11] Angela: Yeah, I definitely think that, action is better than inaction. I feel like a lot of people get caught up in thinking about it for a really long time, or they get caught up in continuing to go to read the books and do the thi. Like you're reading all the books, you're listening to all the podcasts, but you're not doing anything.

[00:09:26] Angela: And the only way you're actually gonna learn is to be in there and you're just gonna have to figure it out. And you figure it out as you go. You really do. Like the amount of times I had to Google things, I'm like, I don't even know what that means. Let me just figure out what that means , but I've learned so much from it and it's really helped me build a lot of skills because I had to do it.

[00:09:46] Angela: Obviously later on with things as you get, more and more with that, like stuff in business, you can start to outsource, but I think it's really important for you to be in it and understand all pieces of it because I definitely think that it helps to make you more rounded and really be able to be like, okay, cool.

[00:10:00] Angela: Another problem arise. Let me just figure it out. That's just what you're gonna do instead. Freaking out and like getting paralyzed or something along those lines. But yeah, I do feel like part of the reason I'm able to do what I did is because I took action right away. I honest, I wasn't scared to fail.

[00:10:14] Angela: Like I wasn't, I was like, if I fail, it's okay. Like I've started over before from doing a biochemist to this next thing. If I fail, I can do it again. I can start over. I can live the next life. So I think those are like two things that are like super important along your business journey for.

[00:10:29] Scott: Yeah. And you dunno, unless you try Id, you could be missing out on the greatest opportunity by just not taking action. So when it, obviously you were juggling all of that yourself, then pretty much how long before you then were able to scale? Or how tough was it for you to be doing everything? Like the be the accountant, be the marketer, be the actual person doing the training and cleaning the gym?

[00:10:48] Angela: It honestly became too much. And I honestly, I did it for two years and I think someone had told me already read somewhere that you wanna give your, a business like at least two years to see like one, if you like, wanna fully do it and two, give it a chance cuz it's not gonna take off like we had said, even with the other stuff right away.

[00:11:04] Angela: And again, I didn't even realize that was a statistic. It's just like what I happen. I did it for two years and then that's when I went up tearing my ACL on national television when I was on Ninja Warrior. . That's when everything started to blink before my eyes and I realized, you know what?

[00:11:18] Angela: Like I'm really miserable, like sitting in this gym. It's not what I wanted it to be. I didn't want to do all the other stuff. I wanted to just be with the people and be myself, and all the other stresses were really just not making me feel the way I wanted to feel. And I almost felt the same way I felt when I was in the biochemistry job.

[00:11:35] Angela: And I'm like all. I've recognized this feeling before. This is not where I want it to be. Instead of sitting in it and thinking that I have to do this. Cuz again, you don't have to do anything. I'm like, I think this is, I, I don't really wait everything out first. I'm like, I think this is time, not to quit, but just go on to the next thing, whatever that next thing is for me.

[00:11:53] Angela: I tore the acl, everything blinked before my eyes. I realized also I was very young. I can't remember, was I 26 or something? Maybe 27, 26, 27. I'm like, I'm so young. If I want to, I can reopen a gym again if I want to. I can go back to the biochemistry job. Like I have time, like I have time to do it all.

[00:12:07] Angela: So decided to shut it down, which is very tough to do. And how to tell all the members, but they all understood and a lot of 'em were like, if you feel like you're meant for something even bigger than this. So they were really understanding. And also really appreciated my vulnerability in telling them this was really hard and I just am not I, I'm just not able to give you guys my all because I'm just burnt out.

[00:12:27] Angela: So shut it all down. And that's when I decided to move to New York City. And New York City is like the mecca of all fitness. I was like, I'm gonna take this time to one learn about online training. Cause that's when Instagram started getting a little bit, bigger. And I started understanding a little bit more about what the power of Instagram could be.

[00:12:44] Angela: So I wound up taking a course in between on how to become an online coach just so I had something to do. And then, . I wound up just going into the city and I was, I was living so crazy. I was living in my dad's basement again so it's like you're going from all, like I live on my own, I have this, whatever.

[00:13:00] Angela: Now I'm living in my dad's basement, commuting into the city and just trying to learn from the best, be around the best. Trying to figure out like what that next thing is that I really wanted to do. And it all evolved from doing that. And again, it was, that was basically starting over again.

[00:13:14] Angela: People didn't know who I was, what I like nothing about that. I gave myself the chance to just figure it out and just see where it would go. And I think that also, like you have seasons of life, right? That season of my life was, I'm gonna say yes to everything. I'm gonna see what's out there, I'm gonna meet all the people, and just see what might happen.

[00:13:34] Angela: And at that point, very different from when I left my pharmaceutical job. Now when I sold the gym, like I didn't sell the gym, I just sold all the stuff in it and got rid of it. Like literally no money, like zero money. I think I was in like 30 k of debt from the. Living in the dad's basement, I'm like, all right, here's another thing I gotta figure out.

[00:13:51] Angela: So it's like I was able to, but again, wasn't scared of failure and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna figure it out. I always do. And just kept showing up and slowly started getting online clients, learning about that, realizing that I can make a ton from just being online and that the op the, all the in-person training I did working for 5:00 AM to nine.

[00:14:11] Angela: was really helpful in me translating it to be online because I understood like they were coming, people were coming to me. I'm like, oh, seen this before. I know exactly what we can do. So all that experience was like very beneficial even if like I didn't stick with doing that, it really helped me bring everything online so I was able to make some money online.

[00:14:28] Angela: And then, yeah, the whole journey in New York City began.

[00:14:31] Scott: So it's interesting that quite often you've said that you realized when it just wasn't working for you and. Didn't see that as a failure. hear about people are stuck in jobs that they hate, but they, I guess they're scared to move on, or they're scared that I guess it's the unknown, it's almost like better the devil, you know, isn't it like, I'm, I don't like it, but I'm comfortable.

[00:14:51] Scott: I don't have to go to something new. But then they're potentially suffering unnecessarily. And it's good that you said you're able to like, go, that's enough. This isn't for me.

[00:15:01] Angela: You have to really, again, not be scared to fail and just be ready to learn and be open. Yeah. Be open to failure. Be ready to get a little uncomfortable, like when you really. , when you really grow is when you get uncomfortable. You're not gonna grow when you're just comfortable. So if you're really trying to figure out, and if you're not feeling like you're in the place that you wanna be right now, getting uncomfortable is the way to go.

[00:15:24] Angela: Obviously at some point as I get older, I feel like things are evolving and I'm like, yeah, I'm getting more comfortable and like what I'm doing, I really enjoy it. So I'm like, okay, cool, I'm fine there. But if you're not happy with something that is going on in your life, staying in that comfort zone is not where you're gonna find the solution to be happier to do the things that you actually wanna do, you have to get out and do something different. It's like that saying, if you do the same thing over and over again, it's like the definition of insanity. It's like nothing's gonna happen unless you change something and it doesn't need to be as crazy as what I did, and I just took the chance.

[00:15:56] Angela: Went right away. Like it could be some small little things that you decide to do to get yourself outside your comfort zone that really helps you. And New York City really helped me do that. I feel again, I learned from the best of the best and I started to slowly evolve and see what one, like really stuck for people with bringing in for business, right?

[00:16:14] Angela: Because you wanna find something that is really creating a solution for somebody. What it evolved in for me was teaching women how to do pull-ups. Everyone kept coming up to me as an ninja warrior and they were like, Angela, like all I ever wanted to do is just do a pull-up and. , I saw this opportunity to be like, okay, cool.

[00:16:32] Angela: Let's help you get your pull up. And then along that journey, what I saw from these women especially that I work with, is that their confidence grew and that they were able to do so much more because of conquering their pull up and going through that whole impossible goal of trying to get themselves up there.

[00:16:49] Angela: And then I looked around online everywhere, and I literally could not find a program. That was suitable for women. That wasn't intimidating. That was easy to follow. And I'm like, this is my opportunity to do something pretty awesome, which is going to again, create a solution to a problem out there. And and that's when I just went in, just like I said about how I do.

[00:17:12] Angela: One thing is how I do everything. I go a hundred percent. I went a hundred percent in I'm going pull-ups, like we're gonna get. We're gonna do pullups every day. We're gonna get everybody pullups, let's go. And that evolved into Pullup Revolution, which I've had now since 2019, I believe. And yeah, definitely you gen generating six figures every year with that business, which is again, pretty wild.

[00:17:34] Angela: We were like, what do you do for a living? I'm like, I teach women pull-ups

[00:17:36] Scott: And how much

[00:17:38] Angela: Yeah, and I, but I went all in. I saw too that people needed it and wanted it. So it was pretty easy to sell, honestly. So I didn't even feel like I, yes, I didn't even feel like I was selling it, honestly. I still don't feel like I'm selling it because I know I'm literally going to fix the problem that they have by not having their pullups.

[00:17:54] Angela: So it doesn't even feel like I'm, like, it's trying to sell something to them that they don't actually need. It's no, you guys, you've been wanting to get your pull up. Let's do it. Like I'm gonna help you get there. No problem. So it feels really like natural and good..

[00:18:04] Scott: And how does that link. Into it goes beyond that, doesn't it? Once they've got the confidence and, I know that you've, you talk about body image and help people there. How linked is that and how do you help people beyond the pull-up?

[00:18:17] Angela: Yeah, absolutely. Again, it's, again, it's not just about the pull up when they're getting it. So first of all, they're doing something that, again, is very uncomfortable. They're gonna be doing new moves they'd never done before. They're gonna be doing stuff. Suck at that. They fail at that they jump up on the bar and right away they go to attempt it and they're not there yet.

[00:18:32] Angela: So it's teaching them that resiliency to keep going even during those failures again, to be okay with getting uncomfortable and then showing them that if they stick through and they just stay consistent and do some of the stuff every single day, that they'll see a little bit of progress. I also love to break down the pull up into different steps, just like you do with life in entrepreneurship, right?

[00:18:53] Angela: Where reverse engineer thing. We're not thinking about getting to the top of the. I want you to think about, you're hanging on the bar. Let's just get a little slight bed in the elbow and celebrate that win, and just take it piece by piece instead. And that's actually, I think, where they start to build this confidence and realize Hey, if I can do this with my pull up and get up there piece by piece, what else can I do in my life?

[00:19:14] Angela: That I can get up there piece by piece. Again, maybe it's business, maybe you're like, okay, my end goal is I wanna have this business instead of thinking I'm just gonna get the business. What about little steps in order to get you there, in order to make that a reality? It's gonna seem a lot less intimidating.

[00:19:27] Angela: And yes, their body confidence then gets, when they do get over the bar, oh man, it's like they feel better about their body, they feel better about themselves. They achieve this impossible goal. And everything just of comes together from that one movement. The amount of successes I've seen after the pull-up that has nothing to do with the pull-ups at all has been absolutely mind blowing.

[00:19:48] Angela: But yeah, I've been taking it piece by piece with them again, celebrating their failures, telling them that you're not gonna have great weeks every week. It's gonna be, it's gonna be hard. And when the people, when they stick through it they see so much more than just that.

[00:19:59] Scott: Yeah you said about the, it's. They say focus on the process, not the outcome or the goal. Cuz otherwise, you gotta enjoy what you're doing, haven't you? It's just like going to the gym, which is, I've only started recently personally, but I'm starting to notice a difference. But if you think, oh, how long is it gonna take me to get to X?

[00:20:15] Scott: Then you probably don't bother. But actually, if you enjoy the process, 

[00:20:20] Angela: It sounds so wooooo. People are like, enjoy the process. It's about the journey. And everyone's okay yeah, but I wanna get there. You know what I mean?

[00:20:26] Angela: Like 

[00:20:26] Scott: Just get me there. Now gimme a quick 

[00:20:28] Angela: Just get me there. But the process, if I got, let's say for example, if I went on Ninja Injur Warrior, I didn't tear my a ac, I tore my ACL on Ninja Warrior.

[00:20:37] Angela: If I just went on that course, I was talking to someone about this C day and I didn't tear my ACL, and I got right through it and I made it to finals. I don't think the journey would've been as rewarding as it was to tear my acl, have to rediscover who I was without athletics, all the things that I had to learn along the.

[00:20:56] Angela: That was something that I would've never had if I didn't just jump in and again, fail. So I think that, yeah, if we had it right away, you wouldn't be, developing your character, developing who you are and stuff like that. So what's interesting is it happens once to you, which it will happens to everybody once you get through it.

[00:21:17] Angela: I think people get nervous to fail again, but instead, You can look back now and be like, oh, I've failed before. I've had issues before. I've been knocked down before I've done it. I can do it again. Like you are more familiar with okay, I'm familiar with this. I saw what it did for me before, so what is it gonna do for me now?

[00:21:36] Angela: The amount of times that I've gotten said no to, to for certain things like. Say no to me. You're just gonna fire me up because I'm gonna find a way to show you and prove you that I'm actually Yes. You know what I mean? So I think that it's, again, embracing those failures embracing the unknown. yeah, just going for it.

[00:21:55] Scott: Yeah. And obviously we're in, just started a new year and people come out with all the resolutions that rarely stick. What's your take on that? Why do they ? Why do they not seem to follow

[00:22:05] Angela: I'm, yeah I'm actually a huge fan of New Year's resolutions. Like I people may disagree with me on that. I'm the, I love starting on a Monday. I love starting on the new year. I love making my vision board for the new year. Mapping out the whole year just gets me like excited.

[00:22:20] Angela: I think why people fail in their resolutions is because they go in too too hot, too quick. Like they go in, like I said, and they're trying to just get to the top right away. And so for fitness, that would. , they're doing their, they're trying to do a diet, they're trying to work out, they're trying to do all this stuff, and it's a lot, it's exciting at first until it's hard.

[00:22:38] Angela: So it's, I think if you take the everything step by step and do small little things instead and have more of a game plan like that, that is gonna lead you more to success instead of doing it all at once. If it becomes overwhelming, you realize it's unsustainable to do all those things. You might be familiar with the book, Atomic Habits.

[00:22:55] Angela: I love the way he, he says habit stacking, like habit, stacking one thing instead. So I think that they fail because of that. I also think that, let's say it's a 30 day challenge. Someone gives you there, they promise you're gonna get a six pack abs and you're like, yes, I'm gonna get abs, and abs are going to make me be happy.

[00:23:13] Angela: I'm gonna be so happy when I get the abs. They finally get there, they realize they're still miserable, and then they just go back to their, all their old ways, right? Again. Breaking down and being like, okay. It's not about, like we said, that end destination. It's about the journey. It's about learning about yourself.

[00:23:29] Angela: It's about meeting yourself where you are right now and really embracing who you are right now and really enjoying that person that you are right now. If you're failing, if you're not, if you've abs, if you don't have abs, if you don't do that right now, like when you get there, it's not gonna, doesn't, it's not gonna do.

[00:23:46] Scott: Yeah, and it's the, what's the reason you're doing it as well, isn't it? It's like the self-awareness that is this just a solve it, trying to solve a problem that I think I have, that I don't have. What's the root issue that is motivating you? Because again, you won't stick with it if it's not the 

[00:23:59] Angela: What's the deeper issue? I For me, I really saw that when so in 2015 on my vision board, I put, I Photoshop myself on the cover of Oxygen Magazine. I'm like, I wanna be in that magazine. I didn't really then it was like very ego I wanna be, I just wanna be on the magazine. I didn't really have a full.

[00:24:12] Angela: I wound up getting the cover in 2021, so that's years later. From all the consistency and stuff like that. Much very proud of being on the magazine then instead of right when I wanted it because I definitely, again, developed the story in there was a, someone I was proud to be on that cover and to really share all the things that I'd gone through.

[00:24:28] Angela: But yeah, I think I did really think that once I got that cover I would be very happy and it would be all these things. But yeah, it just felt like, oh, okay. I got it. And yeah, . So it didn't feel any, it didn't feel really any different. So I think just now that I, again I've realized that, and I tell my clients those things all the time.

[00:24:48] Angela: They're like, no, you'd be so much happier and everything would change because you got, I'm like, Nope. It doesn't that one. Thing's not gonna change anything if you don't do it right now.

[00:24:56] Scott: No, and it's probably linked to external. Factors thinking that will bring you happiness, isn't it? When we need to be happy internally and that kind of if I get validated or I get, I get the Porsche and I get the big house and lots of money and then you hear quite a lot of millionaires are actually quite miserable.

[00:25:15] Scott: Or if people hit retirement and Yeah.

[00:25:17] Angela: that dopamine hit that you get you get ah, I got some dopamine. I'm so happy, whatever. But yeah, you're right. So many millionaires are saying like how they are unhappy. And then I've been reading actually I've been reading this book right now called The Psychology of Money.

[00:25:29] Angela: Have you read that one

[00:25:30] Scott: No, I haven't. No,

[00:25:31] Angela: I really like it so far. So it is going through like a lot of that stuff with different people and like billionaires and processes and stuff like that. . . And then you go back to thinking about I don't know if you've are at Tiktoker, but like Mr. Beast is like very big right now.

[00:25:44] Angela: This is guy who literally, he literally is just like giving away money. He's making millions. Actually, I think he might be making like 

[00:25:50] Angela: billions right now. '

[00:25:51] Scott: em on YouTube.

[00:25:52] Angela: Yeah. And he was really cool because he said he literally just lives in like a small one bedroom a. He said, I got all the money, I bought all the cars, I bought the nice houses.

[00:26:03] Angela: I did all those things. And I realized this doesn't mean anything to me, honestly. So he got rid of all of those things and instead he's I'm very happy in my one bedroom place enjoying what I'm doing, giving. And now I also know he's I'm not stressed, cuz if I lose all that, if I lose like what I'm doing right now, like I'm not stressed about oh my goodness, I have to somehow like, pay all these things and stuff like that.

[00:26:24] Angela: He's I'm just much happier like chilling. I love that. And I think Elon Musk is like very similar. I think he doesn't really have much. I think he literally just, I think he was, sleeping in the Twitter headquarters the other day. Like he, he's just he's I don't need all those things.

[00:26:37] Angela: These things don't, aren't actually what is important with all this stuff in this journey. Obviously you want financial security, but yeah, all those things aren't aren't again gonna make you.

[00:26:46] Scott: Yeah. Yeah. And I guess the opposite of happy if we can go back to the ACL moment I've watched a video and you sounded pretty low. Can you just share that with us?

[00:26:57] Angela: for sure. Yeah, when I tore my acl, it's interesting, I went in the, like on top of the world on that course. I, I owned the gym at that time. I was on the cover of Women's Health Magazine, doing all these. Everything just felt like it was going my way. I felt great. It's like when you're on that like graph of life and you're like right here, you're like, yes, this is awesome.

[00:27:16] Angela: Everything's great. And then boom, like within a matter of seconds, tore my acl. Again, realize that I didn't want the gym anymore. Didn't know how I was gonna sustain like work. I didn't know who I was because now I'm not an athlete. What can I do? I couldn't walk so much had happened in like a split second.

[00:27:32] Angela: I've realized that I was placing so much of my identity and my worth on being an athlete, on being a gym owner, on being this person and that without those things I didn't, I felt like I was worthless and it, I was really down in the dumps about it for a long time. So you hear the story and it sounds like really quick turnaround.

[00:27:53] Angela: It wasn't, it was like months of me just being super down. I didn't want anybody to see me. I was like basically trying to hide from it and. . I had this mentor that came up to me and she said, listen, I'm, I see that you're like down. Like I'm like literally watching this whole thing unfold. And she was like, it's okay that you're stuck, that it's okay that you're feeling this way, but I don't want you to get stuck there.

[00:28:13] Angela: I want you to feel all these things. Feel what you need to feel because when things suck, they suck, but don't get stuck there. And there was something about that just really, like whenever she said that just was like, oh shit, you're right. Like I am. This is rough. Like I'm thinking about I don't wanna live anymore because of these things, but I'm so much more than just like without all those things, I'm still very valuable.

[00:28:33] Angela: I'm still enough, I'm still these things. So I had to take the, that moment and use it as an opportunity to dig deeper into that happiness and that self-worth and things along those lines. So I had to start doing things like, the meditation, the journaling, and I slowly, just like you were saying, with the habits, I slowly started doing each of these.

[00:28:50] Angela: And slowly started to figure out what I was grateful for. And then I was so much more than just that. And I think a lot of people go through, I say it's my ACL tear. It could be, a car accident, it could be maybe something you lose your job and you feel everything's just down.

[00:29:05] Angela: And learning to figure out who you are outside of those things is very, I. In your entire process because those one, th one thing does not define who you are as a person. And once you discover that and you really lean into understanding that, I've seen everything is so much more successful in my life and I place less worth on it.

[00:29:25] Angela: I'm excited about coming and having a great six figure business and stuff like that, but my work is not placed on that one.

[00:29:31] Scott: Yeah, that's great. And yeah, that does that. You have that resilience then that cuz you know, life can just take you by surprise and will take you by surprise as it did for you. When you have to be prepared for those surprises or just expect, it's not like having a negative aspect to life. So everything's shit, but being prepared, like it's not the end of the world.

[00:29:50] Scott: I'll get through it. And you know what? Start to take small steps to just climb back up.

[00:29:55] Angela: It's gonna happen again and again. So you can get really good at it. , like you can get really good at it. And again, and think what's really important when I said, as I said too, is like, you need to feel it though, because what the hardest part for me was I was trying to be this strong person during that moment, and I was trying to fight all the feelings I was having and be, I can't feel this way.

[00:30:15] Angela: I'm supposed to be strong, da, instead of 

[00:30:16] Scott: let

[00:30:17] Angela: Just cry. Just let it out. Just cry. Be depressed. That's so normal. It's a normal human motion that like you, you don't hold those back and resist that. Feel it. Do you need to do, take the time that you need to take and then get out and then get out

[00:30:30] Angela: And start, do and then start doing something.

[00:30:32] Angela: Yeah.

[00:30:33] Scott: Yeah. Brilliant. It's been. Inspiring chatting to. So one of the questions I ask all my guests is, and you've mentioned a couple, so it could be one of these, is if you had one book that you could take with you, you're stranded on a desert island for the rest of your life, what would that book be?

[00:30:47] Angela: Oh my goodness. That's so tough cuz I've read so many good ones. Honestly, the one that I'm like been obsessed with, like recently has been and I just, I'm probably gonna read it again. It's called The Mountain is. It's by Brianna West, and it's a book on self sabotage and getting out of your head and stuff like that.

[00:31:04] Angela: And I love it because it's a very simple read, but it gives you like how you're feeling. This is why you might be feeling that way. Here's some ways to get out of it. I don't know, I feel like I'm just obsessed with that book right now.

[00:31:16] Scott: Great. I'll get that linked in the show notes as well as the other books you mentioned. So if people want to work with you, get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

[00:31:24] Angela: Yeah, so the best way is at angela-gargano.com/strong. I have all my like actual programs on there. If you wanna do stuff for business or speaking and stuff like that, you can do www.angelagargano.com/. And I have stuff on there for, speaking events and stuff like that. You can just book me like directly through there.

[00:31:43] Angela: And yeah I've got, I've talked on all different things cuz I've been through like yeah. The body image stuff. I've been through the injury and I've also created the business. So it's cool to tie it all together and. I definitely feel like I'm in a season of life right now where it's all about giving back, right?

[00:31:58] Angela: Like I don't really wanna get on a cover anymore. I don't really care. don't know. If I get back on Ninja, great. If not, I don't care. It's more about let me just give my story and tell my story so that I can help basically my younger self through the journey.

[00:32:10] Scott: Brilliant. Thank you. I'll get all those links in the show notes for the listeners. So it's been great chatting. Thank you very much for being on the show.

[00:32:17] Scott: A big, thank you for listening to the Rebel Diaries show your time is precious, so it is appreciated. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to hit that subscribe button in your podcast app of choice so you don't miss the next one. There's a new episode every Monday morning, ideal for your commute to work or early morning walk. 

[00:32:34] Scott: Until next time, take care be a rebel and deliver work with impact.