Show notes
147: Kenyon Salo: Lead Trainer and Keynote Speaker of Kenyon Salo Speaking, 'Checklist Destroyer' and Founder of The Bucket List Life, and Denver Broncos Skydiver, talks about overcoming the fears that hold us back and embracing and committing to the unknown to reach our peaks of being phenomenal.
Kenyon Salo
Learn from Kenyon Salo how he embraces the mindset of looking uncertainty right in the face and pushing right through it. "I've always decided that nothing happens to me. It is how I react to it. And sure, I have my days where I am like, whoa, this is nuts and I'm being challenged by it. But, at the same time, I'm saying, well, what is the opportunity? And it is like something you said, the opportunity here. What is the opportunity to succeed? What is the opportunity to learn today? What is the opportunity to help somebody? What is the opportunity to make myself a better person? And just take a look at the world because, at the end of all of this, it will still be a shared experience that we will all talk about for years and decades to come, and it will be something like, wow, remember when? What did you do to get through it?"
On this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, we talk with Kenyon Salo, Lead Trainer and Keynote Speaker of Kenyon Salo Speaking, 'Checklist Destroyer' and Founder of The Bucket List Life, and Denver Broncos Skydiver, talks about what it means to him to be phenomenal. "Every single day we have an opportunity to decide how we are going to participate in that day. We can show up at 50%, 75%, or 100%. Ultimately, the way I look at it is, I'm alive. I have a day ahead of me. It is a day I didn't know I had, and all of a sudden, my eyes open up. I've got a chance to take advantage of it."
What You Will Learn:
Kenyon Salo is one of five members of the Denver Broncos Thunderstorm Skydiving Team, which means he has done over 6000 skydives. He discusses the significance of this opportunity. "We've been doing it for over 10 years now and we are the only team that is associated with an NFL football team. Sometimes there is military, sometimes there is Red Bull for other stadiums. But, no other NFL team has a dedicated skydive team for every single home game, and we jump in coming in at 50 miles-an-hour, 60 miles-an-hour, down the stands, straight down the field and then landing right before the endzone and it is really all for the fans."
What does skydiving do for Kenyon's mindset in terms of the way he approaches his life? "Basically, what happens is, once we have exited the plane, that is the commitment. Well, what does that really say? It is really coming down to the fact that, all of our fears and all of our things that are keeping us from doing what we want to do in life is the story we create prior to the execution. Prior to the commitment. It is all 'what if, what if, what if?' But, what if you just took a leap and then let it all unfold?'
Where does Kenyon's confidence to take a leap of faith time after time come from? "You say 'yes' and you let the 'how' figure itself out later. And so, that's what happens. We exit the airplane, and it's like, Bam! It's game time. It's a mindset. You know about game time. You know what it takes to have that winning success, and that is really what it comes down to, is that we exit, game time, go, land on the field, high-five the fans on the way out, and we're fired up, and that energy is there. So, they're fired up. We're fired up. Everybody wins."
Kenyon Salo expresses what he means by living a 'bucket list life.' "The bucket list life is the concept that I came up with. It's how I live my life and additionally it's the exact concept that I share from the stage with audiences around the world. It has three very basic parts to it. The first part is, if you ever feel stuck in life, you just need to create an experience. Say 'yes.' Let the 'how' figure itself out later and create an experience.
What are the other two elements of Kenyon's Bucket List Life philosophy? "The second part is to share more stories and share more stories is about connection. It is the opportunity to connect, to bond. It is about friends and family and relationships, and I believe that is really important because that is how we feel like we are somebody and we are able to learn, and we're also able to share what we learn. Then it rolls into the last part which is living more fulfilled, and the way we live more fulfilled is by helping others."
The Daily Bucket List Life
Kenyon Salo gives some insight into how he applies the Bucket List Life to his own life on a regular basis. "Ultimately, what it comes down to for me to feel phenomenal, like you said, not that many people are phenomenal, is that I need to be doing one, two, or three of those things at any given time and in any possible way. So, being on a podcast is sharing a story. I'm sharing my story and I'm able to share with you and hear your story and that type of thing. Now it is quite possible that this podcast could help somebody else. It is quite possible that somebody listening right now is going, that is exactly what I needed."
When Skydives Stop
During this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, Kenyon Salo also talks about the circumstances that have prevented a few of his potential skydives from taking place. "In that scenario, we shouldn't be there if that's the case. So, have there been times when we have been over the stadium and we have had to back out of the jump and not actually get out of the plane and go back to the drop zone and land the plane? Yes, and that was because of weather conditions. Whether the clouds became too low all of a sudden, or there was a thunderstorm, or the winds gusted up, or for whatever reasons, we are unable to exit. You know, that usually happens about once a season when that becomes a factor. Sometimes we don't even take off in those scenarios."
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