Angela Gargano (00:00)
When's the last time you did something for the first time? Something that scared you. Something that no one in your family has ever done before. Something that whispered, could I really pull this off? Well, in today's episode, this is all about becoming the first and what happens on the other side of that bold, scary action. That yes.
and spoil the version of you that is waiting there, it's someone that you have never met yet. And it's even better than you ever imagined. So let's dive in. Welcome back to What If It All Goes Right? This is the podcast for bold, high achieving humans ready to stop asking, what if I fail and start living into you, but what if it actually all goes right?
I'm Angela Gargano, keynote speaker, six time American Ninja Warrior and peak performance coach. I've helped thousands of people do things they once thought were impossible, like getting their first pull up. And today we're talking about the most transformative decision you will ever make the moment you decide to go first. Not because it's easy, not because you know how, but because something inside of you says.
This matters and why not me? What if it all goes right? So let me ask you again, when is the last time you did something for the first time? Now it might be applying for the dream job. Maybe it's launching the business idea that lived in your notes app for so long. Maybe it's saying out loud, I wanted to go pull up.
even if you've never done one before in your life and you have no idea how you're going to do it. Whatever it is, this moment right now, this is your invitation to become the first, to be the first.
Now I know this path because I have walked it. I've walked it unsure. I've walked it scared. I was the first in my world to quit a stable job in biochemistry and open a gym. No NBA, no roadmap, just this whisper saying, you know what? This isn't it. There's something more. I'm going to go for it. I was the first in my world to accidentally land accidentally.
on the American Ninja Warrior Course, the first to tear my ACL on national television, the first to come back stronger physically, mentally, and emotionally. And let me be clear, being the first doesn't mean being perfect. It means stepping forward before you're ready. It means being willing to lead, even if no one is behind you yet. It means betting on the version of yourself that you haven't just met yet.
Now, I've coached thousands of women to get their first pull up. And here's what almost all of them tell me on day one when they get started. I've never done this before.
I was told this wasn't for me. Maybe I'm too heavy for this. Am I too old to do this? And some of them flashed back to elementary school, standing under that coal metal pole bar in gym class, being told to just hang there during the presidential and national awards. Maybe you remember that. While the boys climbed up, they like monkeys and that memory, it's stuck with them. It's stuck with them. And it turned this little fire in the back of your head until one day they said, you know what? I want to be the first.
And that decision changed everything. For all of them, it wasn't about the pull-up. It was about becoming someone who tries to do it. Someone who doesn't shrink, someone who reclaims their power one shaky rep at a time. And when they finally get their chin over the bar, the world looks different up there. Because it's not about getting the rep. It's about the realization that if I can do this, what else have I been telling myself that I cannot do?
Mmm. Mmm, come on, let's take a second for that.
And what I tell my clients is the pull-up, it's not a fitness goal. It's not a fitness goal. It's truly a metaphor for life. Because here is how it usually goes, and I want to walk you through this journey, because it's going to sound very familiar to other things. First, you're looking at the bar, arms crossed, eyes squinting, and you think, how the hell am I ever going to do that? Then it comes the first tiny action. You jump up and you just hang there. No pulling. You just kind of hang in there.
And somehow that already feels like a win. And from there, slowly and humbly, you get a little bend in the elbow. You get a little bit more strength, a little more belief until boom, you hit a wall. You show up one day and you're pulling and nothing is happening. You're not even twitching. And you think, what am I doing? Why am I even still trying this? But you keep coming back and you hang again.
and you get a little bend again and you pull again and maybe this time you got halfway. ⁓ my goodness. And you're like, woo, I'm on top of the world. And you're flying high until the next day, suddenly you're back at square run. Yeah, this is a roller coaster. But here's what I've seen over and over again with literally thousands of women that we've helped.
on the most random, unplanned, frustrating day, they hop up onto the bar randomly and they pull themselves up. And their chin glides right over that bar. And in that moment, everything changes. And it's not because they did the pull-up, but because they proved to themselves, I can do something that I once thought was impossible.
They jump off the bar, heart pounding, looking around the room. I mean, I've literally had tons of videos of women yelling like, I can't believe it. Did anyone see that? And then the doubt creeps in and you're like, wait, hold on. This is probably a fluke and maybe I should go try this again. So they go and try it one more time. And guess what? They still got it. And that's the moment in their life when things shift because the question changes from, can I do this? To what else have I been holding back?
And suddenly they're not just chasing one pull up, they're chasing two, three. And then a whole new version of themselves emerges. And the best part, this mindset, this identity shift, it spills into everything. They walk into meetings different. They say yes to things that they used to talk themselves out of, and they become the kind of person who does the hard things on purpose.
because of a pull-up. All because they did something for the first time. It wasn't physical. It was mental. It was emotional. It was evolutionary. And that's why I say, try something impossible. Do something for the first time.
It isn't about the thing itself. It's about who you become in the process. So whether your pull-up is literally on your chin above the bar, or it's a scary decision, or it's a new job, or it's a creative project, or a breakup you're healing from, just know, if and when you stick with it, if you keep showing up with curiosity and courage each day, it's not a matter of if it's gonna happen, it's a matter of when.
And who will you be when it all happens? How powerful is that?
Now here's what people get wrong about going first and being the first, right? They think it takes certainty, which it doesn't. It takes a willingness. It seems the willingness to be seen trying, the willingness to fail forward, the willingness to go off script. The people who go first, they're not fearless. They're just tired of waiting. And they decide that it is time.
to create a new rule book, even when their hands are shaking, even when they're scared. And that's what makes them unforgettable.
So I want to tell you three traits that help people go first so you can get these traits too. Because if you're hearing this and you have this deep guilty yes in your gut that you're like, OK, I've been needing to do something for a while. Here's the traits that I've seen over and over again repeatedly from those who decide to be the first.
Number one, their 1 % courage beats their 100 % certainty. you don't need like a five-year plan. You don't need to know exactly how it's gonna happen, but you need one breath and you need one step. One shaky action.
And that's enough.
That's enough. It's enough to just have that little bit of courage and say, I'm going to go do this thing. I'm going to go be the first at it. And I'm going to do it uncertain. I'm going to do it scared. I'm going to do it not knowing. But I'm going to do it. I'm going to give it a shot.
Two, break it down. Big dreams are super overwhelming, but micro goals empower and build macro, macro momentum.
break it down so that you can build it up. For so many of the women who I've trained to get their pull up, they always come in saying that obviously when they go to the bar, the first thing to think about is like, can I get my chin above the bar? Like that's the one thing they think. But I challenge them and I say, why are you thinking about getting your chin above the bar?
Why are we not starting with step one? You know, when you run a marathon, you're not going to run 26 miles on day one, right? You're going to break it up into small pieces. Same thing goes to the pull-up. Same thing goes for any goal that you have. You want to break it up into those small little pieces and celebrate each piece along the way. Celebrate going from a hang to a slight bend in the elbow. And breaking it down is going to allow it to be faster. It's going to allow this thing to seem so much more fun and doable.
It's gonna make it more enjoyable on the way, right? Instead of just getting there every day and being like, ugh, I can't do this, I can't do this every day, I can't do this, what am I doing, blah, blah. No, I'm gonna show up and I'm gonna do that one thing that's gonna move the needle forward so that I can see success in this.
And number three, those who stay adaptable are people who...
are the first. There's no perfect path. Their willingness to pivot, their willingness to fail, the willingness to get back up, their willingness to be like, okay, something happened, but I'm gonna continue to move forward. I'm gonna try another way around it. That is what allows people to be the first at things, to keep moving forward, remaining adaptable, knowing that things are gonna happen and...
we're gonna have to pivot, but that's where the innovation happens and that's where you learn to really integrate whatever it is being the first is for you into your life. And I always talk about integration, which I'm have a whole other podcast on, but integrating it into your life instead of thinking that it has to be, this is the way I have to do it and that's it. Realizing that there might be an adaptation that happens during that.
But always reminding yourself, and I always like to think of it as a chart, as you're going through the waves of it and you're adapting, it's still an upward trajectory. It's not completely straight, right? It may be up and down, but it's still going up. when you're able to zoom out and see that, you're like, OK, adaptivity is so key in being the first and doing something for the first time and pushing myself forward. And it's really a great way to spark innovation and creativity and curiosity. It doesn't need to be.
being the first getting your pull up, can be being the first in something else.
Being the first is not about being the strongest or the smartest or the best. It's about being brave enough to begin. It's about showing your younger self and maybe even everyone watching that you're allowed to try to want more, to go first.
So I wanna ask you again, when's the last time you did something for the first time? And what would happen if you stopped waiting for permission and started writing that first chapter right now?
This episode meant a lot to me and it sparked something in you. I want you to share it with someone else who is standing on the edge of something new. And if you're ready to train for your first pull-up, redefine your limits, and you're ready to bring this message to your team or your stage, I've got a link down below in the show notes to chat more about booking me to speak at your amazing events.
It's funny enough, there's a bunch of events who keep saying, like, should we bring a pull-up bar? I'm like, I mean, we could. ⁓
But I want to remind you that this is your moment, so don't wait for someone else to go first. You, you can be the first. And just watch, just watch what happens next.
