Kirk
Appearances
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
Let's see. Hey guys. First of all, Vincent, so great to see you to hear your journey again. John, thanks so much for having us on. There's so many things, just your podcast, right? Passion struck. It says a lot right there. The ICL was really fundamentally built about teaching character and leadership to youth.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
a lot of it by sharing these stories like Vincent really struck a chord when he spoke to all of our students and families at orientation and it really has nothing to do with what sport you're competing in what your passion is it's about having that passion and it's about having a purpose and So much of Vincent's journey was not your typical experience, right? It's so much about character.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
And what Vincent was amazing at is relating both academics, the sort of physical, mental, emotional, academic, spiritual side of trying to achieve your best at something you're passionate about. And it's not... the end result, right? It's not the gold medal. It's a signifying what the process was and how that passion is stoked.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
And then so many youth think that I like something, it should come easy. I should just be good at it. And yet what really these mentorship and what world champion mentors are all about is saying, actually, here's my journey.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
here are things that i learned along the way but what ties in is it's not just a one track goal of trying to win that gold medal right vincent is incredibly for being so passionate and giving so much time to one sport he's incredibly well-rounded when he talks about his academic pursuits and integrating math and physics into what he does that's part the next generation doesn't really hear that
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
And there had, before I founded the ICL, I was a tennis player and I didn't reach the heights of some of our champions and Novak Djokovic and Monica Seles and didn't get that medal. But I understood the importance of that working hard, that building character. And if we can instill that into the next generation, That would really make an impact. And then we were able to integrate it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
It took about 15 years. And we realized that these striving athletes needed an outlet. They needed a school. They needed an academic environment, but really more a community environment. Because so many times, and I think Vincent alluded to it, you feel like an outlier. Sometimes when you're at regular school and you're training at five in the morning and Other kids don't really understand that.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
So to build a community of kids that are skaters, skiers, tennis players, golfers, performers that are driven to pursue their dreams and are making sacrifices and have that, it's never really been done before on the scale that ICL is doing. And if you think about the name, the Institute for Civic Leadership, civic is almost like a
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
it's kind of an old school word, but if you really think about it's been left out of school, like civic responsibility, giving back to others, having an impact in your community. And that's, really what the end goal is about. It's not personal glory or wealth. It's that journey that continues on. And so I think that Vincent is a perfect example of what our mentors do. He's sharing his story.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
He's available. He's been through it. He's relatable. And then actually shows that there is a connection between academics and academic excellence with building great character and pursuing your dreams. So he's an amazing example of that.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
Well, it inspires. Right. We have a cycle that I say, which is inspire, educate, impact. Right. So you have this idea that people get inspired and they're passionate, but then creating that purpose. And we call it our six piece to take passion to purpose. But then you need the right process to follow. Right. Process is so important.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
And then it's people who impact you because you can't do it alone. There's just no way. Even though we're talking about individual sports, tennis, skating, it is not. It is a whole group of humans that help you along the way in order to have the next P, which is perseverance. Because nobody, as you heard Vincent's story, it's not a hockey stick. It never is. So the idea that
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
when you can show that grit and resilience ultimately if then the last piece personalization and you gain that personalization through perspective and you can look back and say wow those hardships what felt like the worst can actually mold you into becoming the best and
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
Those are things that sort of normal school doesn't give you and to each person a unique journey, but when you hear enough similarities, so whether it's Vincent talking or Steve Nash or Novak Djokovic, it doesn't matter, right? Like that growth mindset, that ability to wanna be the best to what you can reach.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
Bode Miller says it like, he doesn't count winning World Cup races or his gold medals, it's him pushing his body to what he can achieve. And Vincent talked about, I'm gonna get it wrong, but his marquee move, I call it like a triple Indy from back to school, like Rodney Dangerfield, but it was actually to see what your body is capable of doing that someone else might not be able to do.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
those are the things that end up in life it makes you an entrepreneur you can go into business you can go into service you can go into anything because you've laid it all out there because you've literally put your life on the line we had a bunch of tennis players when vincent's talking doing flips and you can land on your head on the ice you're it's so incredible to hear these stories um but that everyone takes a little piece of that and and john you're doing the same with a podcast right finding out passion what drives people what is it all about
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
That's a great question, which leads into, I believe that community is actually so important that while we're being driven in this world, not just in sports as individuals, but the digital world, right? It's being more isolating. And yet, if we utilize this the right way, I think the concept of building a community is more important than ever.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
What we're trying to do at ICL is to build a global community. So when I was younger as a tennis player, I knew the tennis players in the Northeast. Then as I got better, oh, I met people from California. Then when I got even better, I got to go to South America. Vincent would probably talk about what I hear about going to the Olympics. What's so amazing that impacts people is meeting
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
these like-minded community of incredible athletes from every country around the world, it's such a unique thing. And I think sometimes parents and kids get focused on that individual side, and yet that community aspect in sports, it's the basis of the foundation of sport, right? Was actually building this community around activities and non-warfare, trying to build this.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
And I think that we have a mantra at ICL that says, respect tradition, embrace tomorrow, right? Right. How do we embrace this digital age? Because people think online education like, oh, that's a computer and it's a robotic and I'm just going to be isolated. And yet we've had huge conferences in New York City that capped at 500 people.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
When Vincent spoke, he spoke to nearly a thousand people and then it lives on. You can record it. People have watched it in classes. So the ability to use technology to actually build community is a pretty it's a pretty powerful tool, and all about how you look at it. Because yes, I can make the argument that in a bad way, that's too individualized, and people are focused on just them.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
But we're trying to open that up. And I think as a nonprofit and a foundation, yes, we want to support individual kids on their journeys, and we provide monetary support and academic support. But overarchingly, it's about how we build out that community that will impact them forever.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
You are amazing. I feel like we're just talking. What Vincent said, so many people were impacted because sharing those experiences, kids hear, oh, that's how I feel. And to know that you can overcome it, to know that as you break through, that the ability to even have support from teachers. And so you probably felt it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
I certainly did in tennis where my teachers, like, oh, why are you missing school again? I'm like, I'm going to nationals. Like, instead of being happy about it, it's almost like, well, you're missing class again. Whereas At ICL, our teachers actually attend nationals. Like they want to go watch it and share a story from last week.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
We have, we had players playing in a, in the BNP Parabao, but a master's 1000. So we had 17 year old girls competing on stadium two, and then their classmates in the front row cheering them on. And then they were playing that next week in the junior event. And just to see that sort of pump up, like not just to your coach, your parents, but to have that,
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
community around you, I think it's going to be a game changer because when we really look at what ICL is, we're the mental health crisis in our youth is real and it's happening in real time. And you hear about the anxious generation and cell phones. And what I've learned is there's not a silver bullet to stop. There's nothing but what you what does prevent that is community.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
I think that when you have a supportive community around you, you get less anxious, right? You're there when someone's low, you're there to help support them. When they're at a high, you celebrate with them. And I think that takes away a lot of that pressure cooker environment that kids are now ingrained to feel that isolation, even in normal school.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
I've been reading books and the studies are shocking about how these kids are feeling these days. And I think that community sense and even knowing that people like Vincent, like Novak Djokovic, like Monica Seles, like Bodie Miller are actually there and care about them, right? They're not there because they're being paid for an appearance to support something.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
It's they're opening up their own stories. They're opening up their hearts, their journeys, and listening to the kids and saying, hey, I was there. I got you. You can get through this. And that's a really powerful tool.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
Nice. And that is, there's some real bigger issues, right? You can go from micro to macro or macro to micro because we're still small and relatively unknown. There's so many exceptional nonprofits. You mentioned Angela Duckworth and teaching grit, but I always find that
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
Part of the reason we start with these high profile, whether it's athletes, dedicated kids, is that they're your easy feeder system to something bigger, because to make an impact in our education system today is very difficult, right? It's just really tough to break in. You've had billionaires try, and it's complex. Again, no silver bullet, no finger pointing at anyone.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
I come from a family of educators. I worship teachers. Part of my goal was to make great teachers. I always say, why are there celebrity chefs that are in the kitchen? Why are there not celebrity teachers? Because everyone had them. And that's always been a passion and a purpose of mine. But it mixes in with these mentors, right? You'd love to see...
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
Vincent's picture next to a great math teacher who inspires them. And we all go back to movies like Dead Poets Society. There's so many examples of that, but I think that they need to be highlighted more. And the trade and craft of being a great teacher needs to be up there and recognized with these great athletes because they're all impacting youth. They're all helping to shape it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
But you're so right. And this is a different generation and how we bridge that and give that support. We try to teach at the end of the day for our students. One of my mentors, John, you probably know, is Dr. Jim Lehrer and a partner. And he's the original Human Performance Institute. But he talks about being your own coach, like how to be yourself.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
your own inner monologue that two sides like who you are is so important and the earlier you can address those and I always go back in my head like the poem if right if you can treat those two imposters just the same I feel like
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
you motivate yourself but then having those outlets those real people that are supporting you trying to do more project-based work working in courses like performance psychology or leadership or the business of sport like making you feel outside of just the ice you don't want one thing is you don't need your identity to be Kirk the tennis player, Vincent the skater.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
It's part of who you are, but it's not your whole. And I think that This community building, this generation is looking for that identity. Who am I? Where do I fit in? And this, they should probably rename, it's not really social media because you're not as interactive. It's fantasy, right? Like all these pictures you can post.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
And we all, as adults, we realize how fake it is, that it's actually like the opposite. The more people post something amazingly glamorous, it's probably not that reality. But for kids, it shapes them. And I think that it's important to teach kids what shapes you should be in here and in here and to lead with.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
That's why we call ICL passion-based learning through an impact learning model, like the word impact at all levels. How you go through that, how you can see an impact is so important.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
I'm ready to watch this move, by the way. I'm ready to buy popcorn and watch this move. I feel like we're absolutely going through it. This is, again, why this power, right? But this is not different from entrepreneurs, right? You read about every great company, whether it's Google, they're three weeks away from shutting the doors, letting everyone go.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
That's this life, and that's that grit, that resilience that most people probably would have stayed at Brown and said, you know what? I'm ready to move on. It just seems like this super daunting... task and that's those elements. It's those moments, right? You just, and you did that. Yeah.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
And I can understand why that feels like bigger than some of the podium fit other ones, because you know that where you were. and where you had to get to in such a short amount of time that internally for you, that makes all the difference. And that's what will persevere and go on for your life. That's amazing.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
It's expected almost, right? You have an expectation of yourself.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
So people say talent's the enemy of greatness, right? There are a lot of talented people, but... Yeah.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
Any families for the school side of things, if they have a youth that's interested in joining ICL Academy, it's www.iclacademy.org. And for those that want to be involved in our foundation, it's theiclfoundation.org. I really appreciate you having both of us on and letting, you know, me share alongside Vincent what we're doing and we're, we're so aligned.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Vincent Zhou on How to Make Your Gold Medal Dreams a Reality | 588
In fact, our, your logo passion struck our part of our logo is that as well as to really be able to do that. So I thank you so much, John. And thank you, Vincent, for allowing me to be on here.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
IRA is 401K, almost 1.5. Non-retirement, $370,000. My home and inherited home, $620,000. And I have a side business. It's about $180,000-ish, somewhere in there.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
My undergraduate, about 3.3, 3.4, and then graduate with my master's, it was about 3.7.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
Yeah. It would be my home and my mom passed a year ago, you know, inherited her house.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
330 total. And that was November of 23. So long after you were a millionaire. Oh, yes, for sure.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
About $240,000 from her IRA, and the home value is about $90,000.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
Actually, yes. It's kind of funny. I didn't come across Dave's principles and teachings until about 10 years ago, but I've been living this way since I was in high school. Wow. I hate, you know, no debt, hated debt, you know, wanted to invest, wanted to become a millionaire, wanted to have options of retiring early or not.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
And so it was funny when I came across Dave's principles, I was like, oh my gosh, this is exactly what I do. You know, I was glad to see that somebody else is out there and it's, and they're telling people this is what you should do versus, oh, just go get a loan, go get a loan, put it on a credit card. You know, I was like, no, I hate debt. Yeah.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
Well, yes, I bought my house initially, yeah. Mortgage, okay, that's it, but no consumer debt. Mortgage, yeah. Oh, no, no, I pay cash for cars, you know, the whole deal, yes. Wow. What are you driving?
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
Yeah, we're both driving 2014. I have a BMW, my wife has a Mercedes, so they're 10-year-old cars. Bought them when they were about three or four years old, somewhere in there, but...
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
At an early age, my parents basically said, you want to go to college, save your money. We're not going to have it for you. So I started, you know, cutting grass, helping snow on a paper route, buying savings bonds for college. And, you know, you know, that was the plan. And, and my dad taught me about money and stuff. And, and they just, that was a big interest to me.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
And I was like, okay, here's how money can work for you with investing. And here's how it works against you with borrowing. And that was my philosophy from day one. And like I said, when I came across space teachings about 10 years ago, it was, It was like, oh my gosh, this is confirmation of exactly how I've been thinking and what I've been doing.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
And then I took my wife to FPU because she was just the opposite. I was trying to get her out of that mentality. And finally she's like, oh, okay, this is what you were telling me about. But now somebody else told her about it, so now she's going to listen.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
Yes, but I'm trying to, now I'm at a point where I'm trying to, she works in a stressful healthcare environment in the hospital. I'm trying to get her
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
to okay here now you can retire early and do just do per diem what you want where you want but because now i have to you know the answer for you to do that versus oh you have to do your nine to five you know weekly and so now we're at a point now it's actually going to help her to you know have that give you the flexibility you mean you mean to show you you may tell you a hack yeah here's a hack you can use with her for that what's that take her to some concerts there in vegas
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
I go during the non-tax season. A true accountant. Yeah, 80, 90 hours a week, whatever, during tax season. There you go. Awesome.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
Right, right. Yeah, plan is at some point, I mean, I have a full-time job, you know, I'm a controller for a company, but I also have my side business, tax business. At some point, it's retire full-time, you know, maybe work part-time as a controller and then You know, the tax business and consulting business, you know, just do that year-round.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
You get to choose your clients. I can't do nothing. Yeah, I can't do nothing because I like what I do. I like helping people. So I can't do nothing.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
So I will at least do that and, you know, give my wife the freedom to, hey, you can leave your job and you can help me during tax season and we'll turn it into a full-time thing and, you know, then the rest of the year you can travel, you know, because she loves to travel. So I try and travel more with her, but she goes with her family as well. That's amazing, dude.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
Yeah, it's funny because that's the advice that I had myself when I was 23 was basically I tell young people now, be the tortoise, not the hare. I've been telling people that for 20 years and I came across Dave's teachings and I hear the same thing. I have no problem with, you know, the long run, but start young.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
I started investing, I was in my early 20s, but at that point, it was just IRAs and, you know, you only put $2,000 away. I didn't have an opportunity with a 401k until I was 27. Wow. So I was stuck doing $2,000 a year in IRA back then, other than, you know, non-retirement stuff, you know, buying some, you know, stocks and stuff, but... But now there's so much out there. Start young.
The Ramsey Show
Be the Tortoise Not the Hare
Get it in there. And forget about the fancy car, the new car, and the stuff.
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
Yes, I'm just calling about just some financial question. I'm a pastor, been in ministry my whole life. We pastor a small church in Wyoming, and so we've lived in a parsonage all that time, so we don't own a home or anything. We've gone through financial peace in our church. We use cash for everything. We're completely out of debt.
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
Um, but, um, my wife's parents were involved in a tragic car accident, lost their lives. And so they had, they live in Missouri and they had a couple of farms. And so, uh, we sold one with my wife's brother. We sold one and just put the money into, uh, Edward Jones. And we made, we have about, I think there's about $460,000 in there. And last year we made 19% interest on that.
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
I think our cash interest was around $75,000. Anyway, my question is we've been talking with her brother about this other chunk of land. And so he, I don't know if he's thinking we should keep the land. My question is, are we going to make more in interest if we would sell that and put it in a financial institution or, Keep the land thinking that the value of the land might go up someday.
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
Yeah, the land, it's north of Springfield, Missouri, and so it's just a rural land. It's just farmland. It does have some water that goes through it. So we're probably going to just sell it, not like to be developed, but just someone who would want the farmland to run cattle or add to their farm or whatever. And so it's not in a county with like a big city, so the value per acre is lower.
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
Maybe it's like $10,000 an acre.
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
I'm just going to say I'm 58 years old, so we're going to be retiring here soon. What do you think you guys stand to make on that? On that land? Your cut. I'm thinking maybe $750,000. I'm figuring it's like 150 acres, so if my wife gets 75 acres of it and it's worth $10,000, that's $750,000.
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
not in the short term, but definitely through retirement, because like I said, we don't have a whole lot. And so this, this 400 close, close to 500,000 that we already have in a, in mutual funds, we're going to need to buy a house. So we're thinking maybe 250 to $300,000 house.
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
So that's going to take a big chunk of that and then just live on the rest and put it in a trust and give what we can to our kids. But,
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
Is it just sitting? Not really. And her brother lives down there. And so like fixing some fence, we actually lease it to a guy. We don't really make a whole lot on it. He just runs some cattle on it. So there is some upkeep on the land somewhat. I don't know. What would you do?
The Ramsey Show
Stuck in a Financial Pit? Here’s How to Climb Out and Stay Out
I'll be 59 in February. I mean, I want to retire whenever I can. But, yeah, so I'm figuring, you know, 60, 67, 68, something like that to retire.