229: Alan Ball Podcast

In today’s episode of ‘Finding your Summit’ podcast, host Mark Pattison, former NFL Player, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Mountaineer who has climbed the Seven Summits, talks with guest, Alan Ball, an American Football Player. Alan shares his football experiences, how his coach challenged him and where he is now. He also talks about his challenge of always being looked at as a smallest guy.

Listen to “EP 229: Alan Ball a former NFL Player who learned the right way to do things” on Spreaker.

Episode Highlights

• 02:16 – They both had a very unique, amazing opportunity to be blessed to play in the National Football League at that level.
• 03:08 – Mark inquires about the Guiding Light that helped Alan shine the way that he could play in confidence.
• 06:03 – Alan says that when he gives his attention to something and attaches his faith to the things he can do, that it not only helped him in football, but it helps him in life.
• 08:11 – Mark asks about the gap between what Alan’s coach was looking at and what he needed to become.
• 10:16 – The guest says that it created a habit for him, and that habit is the discipline of doing what he needs to do to silence people around him in terms of naysayers.
• 12:07 – One is not playing here unless they get their body, mind and soul on one place to play.
• 14:16 – Alan points out that the challenge that he went over not only taught him lessons about the business but taught him about himself.
• 16:16 – How do we help someone else with what we’ve been through, asks Alan.
• 20:32 – The old skills that we have—they’re great, but other people will be able to catch that and they’ll be able to match that.
• 22:44 – Mark questions how Alan prepared himself for life after football.
• 24:30 – Alan put himself in a position where he could explore different avenues, see what he enjoys, and what he was passionate about.
• 26:49 – That transition for him was just being able to prepare himself financially and being diligent with his finances on the front end.
• 28:03 – Mark asks Alan about how someone gets on the show “Survivor”.
• 30:42 – Alan mentions that the show was one of the best experiences he has ever had.
• 33:00 – Mark says that the mountains, probably more than anything, helped with a lot of healing that he had to go through.
• 37:07 – Alan shares that they just had an event this weekend where they had 45 volunteers of student athletes.

Three Key Points

1. What’s really important to Alan in his journey is not only traveling it and overcoming these circumstances, but being able to look back, reflect and share with others.
2. Mark mentions that they need to maximize their potential for becoming the best version of themselves.
3. Alan shares that we just need to be creating the habits of making sure that everything around us is complete. We need to start to figure out how we become complete.

Tweetable Quotes

“I think in high school, for me, the challenge was always being looked at as the smallest guy on the field.” – Alan Ball

“I was always fighting out of the element of being looked at as the underdog.” – Alan Ball

“I wasn’t put there for the coach that brought me there. God put me there.” – Alan Ball

“I was drafted in the seventh round—lower than what I thought I should be.” – Alan Ball

“He was saying there’s nothing wrong with you. Your level of play doesn’t match where you’re at right now.” – Alan Ball

“He was placed in my life for a reason. Without him, I don’t know if I would have progressed to where I am.” – Alan Ball

“If you’re a religious person, that faith aligns you where you need to be—that everything you do in life will involve God.”- Alan Ball

“You have to figure out a different way to transition that same energy into something new, to propel you forward.” – Mark Pattison

“I can look at my career and I can honestly tell you at no point in my career, until probably before it came to an end, that I’d ever play and think about money.” – Alan Ball