I sat down with friend and Super Bowl champion, Michael Strahan, to talk about his incredible journey from a husky little kid to one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history on this week's episode of Long Story Short. Not only is he in the pro-football hall of fame from his time with the New York Giants, but Michael is one of the few athletes to go on and re-invent himself after his football career. We talked about the importance of being true to yourself, how he defines retirement, and his many career highlights. Listen to the episode here and check out some highlights from our conversation below.
On staying true to himself...
What I do as a job is not who I am as a person. But what I do as a job, I am able to be myself. What you see is what you get with me. It makes my jobs easier, I can show up and have fun and walk out and move on to the next one.
On respect...
I try my best to respect people, but at the same time, you have to respect yourself and your time. I learned if I don't respect my time, respect my space and know learn when I need a break from all of that, no one else ever will. People want what they want when they want it.
On what else he wants to do…
Retire, Bobbi. One day. Everything I do now, I feel like I prove people wrong. Or not that I prove them wrong, but I prove that I can do it because they think you are just a football player. I’ve proven I can do other things outside of sports and football. I love doing business, I love the production company and being creative and the clothing, I love that as well. The one thing that people think I can’t do is retire. And not that I’m going to do it anytime soon. [Retirement] doesn’t mean do nothing, I have to do something. Retirement for me means maybe have two jobs instead of 10.
On his best advice…
The one thing I would say is when someone gives you advice, or tries to talk you out of something or intimidates you with the process of getting where you want to go, don’t let that stop you. Do it your way. Experience it for yourself and you decide if it was worth it. Because if you don’t, somebody will truly talk you out of getting started on whatever your dream may be. Experience it for yourself.