Latest / Loud & Lifted / How to Stop Comparing Yourself: Lessons from Olympian Charlotte Worthington

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How to Stop Comparing Yourself: Lessons from Olympian Charlotte Worthington · Loud & Lifted

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What do you have in common with an Olympic gold
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medalist? Turns out more than you think. Welcome
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to Loud and Lifted, the Women in Leadership podcast
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about career growth, confidence, and the real
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stuff nobody teaches you at work. I'm your host,
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Betsy Hamm. Today's guest is Charlotte Worthington,
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an Olympic gold medalist who's represented Great
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Britain in two Olympics. She's won gold in the
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women's BMX freestyle park at Tokyo 2020 and
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became the first woman to land a 360 degree backflip
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in competition. She also returned to compete
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at Paris 2024 to defend that title. And even
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if you've never touched a BMX bike in your life,
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this conversation is basically Olympic level
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leadership training, how to prepare your mind
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for pressure, how to handle fear without letting
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it run the show, how expectations can mess with
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your performance after success. And one of my
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favorite mindset shifts ever swap comparison
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for admiration. Let's get into it. Welcome to
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Loud and Lifted, Charlotte. Thank you so much
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for being here. Oh, thank you for having me.
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I'm excited. Yeah. So you have a history of breaking
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records and being the first to do things. And
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on Loud and Lifted, you are our first Brit guest,
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number one, and number two, our first Olympic
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gold medalist. So thanks for shattering standards
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over here at Loud and Lifted, too. I love that
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so much. I love it. Put that on your resume.
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I will. So excited to talk to you. You have a
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really interesting story. And as I said, you're
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the first to have accomplished a lot of stuff.
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So you are an Olympic gold medalist and freestyle
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BMX. And I would love to know how you even got
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started in this sport. So I ride BMX freestyle,
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but I haven't always done that. I got into sort
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of the extreme sports lifestyle when I was younger
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through watching my brother. He's older than
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me and he did skateboarding with his friends
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and I always thought it was so cool and we'd
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see bits of the X Games on like YouTube and things
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and it was so elusive. It was like a foreign
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land that just looked amazing and I always had
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a hand in it there and it wasn't until I went
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on a camping vacation with my family that I saw
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someone actually riding a stunt scooter first
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when I was about 12. So same thing on the skate
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park and you do similar tricks, but maybe it
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was like a little bit easier, especially as a
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young girl, like it was a lot easier to throw
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a little scooter around versus a BMX bike. And
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I saw someone do tricks and it kind of lit that
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spark. I just thought it was amazing. And like
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ever since then, I was just sort of addicted
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to extreme sports. So I did that for quite a
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while and it wasn't until I was about 20, like
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19, 20 that I decided to pick up a BMX bike,
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which was just because I'd sort of grown up a
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little bit and a lot of my friends rode BMX.
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And I sort of felt like I'd accomplished everything
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I wanted to on the scooter and I wanted a new
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challenge, but that was still in that same area
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of things that I love. And yeah, BMX was a great
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fit. That's awesome. So this sounded like it
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just kind of started something fun to do, right?
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Like a way to have like a... I guess activity
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or sport. But when did this become real? Like
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when did this become that you were all in and
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you wanted to go to the Olympics and make this
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like your profession? So that happened really
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quickly. For reference, I'm 29 now. So I've been
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riding BMX for nine years. And when I picked
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it up, I was working full time in a kitchen as
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a chef, as a cook. And it was a bit of a turning
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point of I wasn't riding my bike very much. Like
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maybe once every two weeks because I was working
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crazy hours. So I sort of wasn't progressing
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it was still fun, but it wasn't like Something
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I did as often as I wanted and I kind of said
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yes to a couple opportunities Because it like
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you said it was just fun and I'm an adventure
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seeker And so I went to like this little UK competition
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and it just happened to be the year that there
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was this tv show that was scouting for people
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so i got scouted for that like a few months later
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and whilst i was filming for that there happened
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to be uh the head judge of the uci there who's
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british and he saw me and said hey i don't know
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if you know but Team Great Britain is going to
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be setting up an Olympic team because BMX freestyle
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is in the Olympics for Tokyo 2020. And this was
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in like 2017 and I just started. So I kind of
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thought, well, worst case scenario, I get like,
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well, basically before then he said, here's a
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phone number and give it a call and see what
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they say. So I gave him a call and they offered
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me to go on the tryouts. So I thought, well,
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worst case scenario, I'll go on these tryouts,
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get a week off work and a free trip to North
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Carolina. And worst case scenario, I go back
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to work. And best case scenario, I don't. And
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it happened to be that I get selected. So I'd
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been riding BMX for like a year. And then this
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huge opportunity, this series of opportunities
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just sort of... the stars aligned and sort of
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land on my lap and don't get me wrong I worked
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hard for them and I think it was from then that
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it was like okay this is a huge opportunity to
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just work as hard as I can and maybe potentially
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maybe even make it to the Olympics like it was
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just a surreal well there's a chance here like
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this is an opportunity let's just try and work
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harder and see where it goes and that was my
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attitude going into the whole Tokyo process and
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it just sort of grew. Which is amazing because
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to your point, you had only just started doing
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it essentially to, you know, just kind of understanding
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the sport and then all of a sudden like, hey,
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you keep doing this, maybe there's an opportunity
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to go to the Olympics. Like that's such a cool,
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cool thought process. So especially back then,
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and maybe I'm being stereotypical, but it seems
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like a very male dominated sport, right? When
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you say BMX. I think of men doing it. So when
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you first got into the sport, especially years
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ago, like what barriers did you have to get over
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and how was the support around you in this sport
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for you? Yeah, I think it changed as I grew up.
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So when I was younger, it felt a little harder,
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like I was a little bit more outcasted and teenage
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boys are sort of interested in teenage girls
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that you know are interested in being teenage
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girls and I wasn't interested in that. I was
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interested in riding scooters at the skate park
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so that was a little tough but sometimes you
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get compared a lot to other girls that rode scooters
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or did extreme sports because there wasn't a
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lot. There was like a handful in the whole country
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and you know teenage boys just they have a different
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thought process and different attitudes so. At
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first like I didn't think I had my true friends
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really but once I sort of grew up and everyone
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matured like those sort of late teens everyone
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knows a bit more who they are. I found some really
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awesome friends that I'm still friends with to
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this day so that like on the whole everyone was
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like really supportive. I think again once you
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grow up again and go through that mid -20s shift
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you also sort of realize that men and women actually
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just think differently. and have different values
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and mainly one of the big things also was like
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approaches in our world to learning tricks and
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to fear. For men, stereotypically, their thought
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process would be that caveman, I have to sort
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of impress people and compete and outdo people.
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And like it's that thought process. But when
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I sort of had gone through some struggles and
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clashes of my own with people trying to convince
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me to do tricks like that, and it wasn't working,
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I sort of realized, oh, what actually works for
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me is more thinking about different values and
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why I'm doing it and things that are important
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to me and it's not about competing and showing
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up differently. So that was sort of like deciding
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the two very big differences being in a male
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-dominated sport. And was part of it, did you
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have to prove yourself that like you were legit,
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you were here to compete and to win and you could
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hang? Was that part of the building credibility
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with them or was it just over time and age they
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matured? Honestly, I think it wasn't even like
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that. I don't think in that area of sport, it's
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super competitive like that. I maybe felt like
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I had to prove myself because I wanted to and
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I wanted them to know that I was serious about
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it, but it didn't mean that I couldn't hang if
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I didn't want to do that. It's a very easygoing
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sport. So I did want to sort of, I think that
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was a competitiveness in me that was saying,
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I want to be able to compete with you boys. Like
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I'm not just here to compete against the girls.
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I want to try like a boy. Love that. Love that.
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So let's talk about the mental toughness. First
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of all, with your sport. Like when I watched
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some of your videos, I'm like, oh my God, it
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gives me anxiety to watch it. I know you're going
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to land it. You were the first woman to land
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a 360 degree backflip in a competition. I can
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just visualize that. I can't even fathom how
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you were born to do something like that. So Farrah,
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let's talk about the sport. How did you build
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your confidence and that mental toughness to
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compete in something that can honestly be incredibly
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dangerous? Well, we learn tricks similarly to
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gymnastics. So there's a foam pit and then there's
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what we call a resi ramp, which is like a soft
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ramp that has a little bit of give versus the
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solid wood. So there's a little bit of a step
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-by -step process. That doesn't make it sound
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any better, just for the record. Well, you'll
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do things in the phone pit, get it really dialed
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and confident before you're ready to commit on
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the resi, but it is a big jump. It's a big step,
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and it's always a mental thing whenever you level
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up a trick. You go in from the phone pit where
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the level of risk is very low to the resi where
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it suddenly becomes much higher. And it's always
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a mental challenge to say, I just need to do
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the exact same thing that I'm doing in the foam
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pit to what I'm doing on the resi ramp. And often
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the fear, it always happens, like the fear will
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make you hold back a little bit. You might lean
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back without realizing, you might rush it because
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you're like, I just want to get it over with
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or whatever it is. So there's definitely that
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practice of mental toughness there for sure.
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So how do you do that? How do you improve your
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mental toughness? You know, one of our most talked
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about topics on this podcast has been about confidence
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and getting outside your comfort zone. And you
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are doing that mentally, physically. So I'm sure
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you had ups and downs. So how do you deal with
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that and kind of build that becomes easier? Yeah,
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definitely. And it's honestly just practice.
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I think people don't realize you can practice
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these things like preparing for a high pressure
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situation or a dangerous situation like you can
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practice your thought process and that's through
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different techniques such as breathing like it's
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whatever works for you personally but there's
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things out there like like breathing returning
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to your breath and getting really present there's
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visualization like that's a big one for us it's
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visualizing not only like what's going to happen
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but also probably what feelings and thoughts
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you are predicting will come to your brain because
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that's actually out of your control but it is
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in your control how you respond to that so you
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can think okay I'm gonna go into this big competition
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or I'm gonna go into this meeting boardroom and
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I'm probably gonna feel at some point like I
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don't deserve to be there or like everyone's
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really intimidating or I'm gonna overthink everything
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that I do or say and it's like that It's not
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necessarily true. That's a lot of just random
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thoughts that anxiety and things is just bringing.
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So if you can visualize and predict those things
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are going to come, it's like you hear it. The
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key is hearing it and saying, okay, I kind of
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thought that I was going to think this in this
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situation. How did I plan to respond? What was
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it? Was it like, I need to just take a deep breath
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or was it I need to argue with that thought and
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say, no, that's not true? this is what's true
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is that I'm here to do the thing. So it's definitely
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like practice and taking a really objective sort
12:26
of attitude into that helps as well because the
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emotions can they definitely cloud and fog things
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up a little bit. It's not to say don't dismiss
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your emotions but it's definitely to say like
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be aware of things that are emotions and might
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not necessarily be true. So practice is a big
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one for both. doing a trick every day physically
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and mentally and going into those high pressure
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situations. Yeah. So let's talk about high pressure
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situations. I mean, the Olympics is the highest
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pressure situation when you're an athlete and
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just the pressure I'm sure that you feel that
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you put on yourself, you're representing your
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company. So when you were at the Olympics, how
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did you, I mean, obviously the preparation, the
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practice that went into prior before you went
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to Olympics, but you know, how did you get through
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that? Super exciting, where you probably wanted
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to like love every moment and the fact that you
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were there, but balancing that with the pressure
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that you just felt during that. Well, I've had
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two Olympic experiences. I've had the absolute
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best perfect Olympic experience and I've had
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the absolute worst Olympic experience out in
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Paris. The best one came first, which is awesome.
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And how I prepared for the best one was a lot
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of visualization, like I said. At that time,
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I was working a lot on my self -belief and being
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able to sort of fight those negative thoughts.
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And I'd faced a lot of injuries too. I dislocated
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my shoulder even six weeks before that Olympics.
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So it was actually a blessing in disguise because
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it made me focus on the things I needed to focus
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on. So I was seeing like a big opportunity in
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that. So visualization was massive. A lot of
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things physically. and I remember that day I
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was often returning to my breathing, I was returning
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to keeping that right perspective and I think
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I went into it sort of a certain amount of non
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-attachment to the result. I was fully prepared
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to walk away with absolutely nothing because
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for me like the bar was like I'm at the Olympics
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like I didn't even think I would get here so
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it really doesn't matter if I walk away with
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nothing I just didn't see the downside really
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and I think it was being able to Be just totally
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present in the process through all those things
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visualization breathing techniques and and practice
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that allowed me to sort of not be thinking about
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the result and just say it's out of my control
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because so much especially in our sport is out
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of your control and It was there was that that
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allowed me to take the risk and be calm and present
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and just be like if I mess up What does it really
15:00
change? Like, I'm still going to enjoy riding
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my bike and I'll just be back where I was before.
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It doesn't make a big difference. And I think
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that was just so healthy. And then I've made
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the mistake of going into the next Olympics without
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realizing sort of everything had flipped upside
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down. And I suddenly was going in with this massive
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expectation of like feeling a need and a pressure
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to get gold and like working backwards and just
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assuming that That was now the bar that was set
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and I should have in hindsight like it's a much
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better approach to sort of start with a blank
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slate and not have any of those expectations
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because you don't know what's going to come up
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along the journey and it's not sustainable also
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to be riding at that high level for such a long
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time. You need the peaks and the troughs and
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you need to be okay and confident in accepting
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them. That's so interesting and that's so true
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just in life generally where you know you went
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in with this sort of open mind and hey look what
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I've accomplished to this point the first time
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and it worked out well and then the second time
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just the pressure and the stress that you're
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putting on yourself just impacted your performance
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and impacted your experience which I think we
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can all relate to so that's super interesting.
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thought process for sure. You know, one thing
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you had talked about when I heard you speak on
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a panel when I never really thought about is
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the difference in participating in an individual
16:24
sport versus a team sport, right? Like I grew
16:27
up playing team sports, my daughters play volleyball,
16:29
so everything's team, team, team, and the camaraderie
16:32
and lifting each other up. So when you're in
16:35
an individual sport, how does that... How does
16:38
that work? Who's there to support you? Who's
16:41
there to be your cheerleader physically, mentally,
16:44
emotionally, whatever it is. But how does that
16:45
work and how do you manage to have that strength
16:48
to be on your own? Well, I think it's a little
16:52
bit of a personal preference as to whether you
16:54
like team sports or individual sports. As a teenager,
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I always hated team sports. I think it was because
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I probably had a couple of negative experiences
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and I felt like... I think just my thought process
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was when I mess up, I let other people down versus
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if I just mess up on my own, then I let myself
17:13
down and it's fine. Like I can, I could deal
17:15
with that more than letting other people down
17:17
at the time. And I think that was my thought
17:19
process. And I also liked, I just liked being
17:23
able to do stuff on my own a little bit. Like
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I, I'm fine being a bit of a loner at times.
17:29
BMX is very collaborative, but I am okay. doing
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my sport, like in my own space and world. Like
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it's where I get to escape and that's why I loved
17:37
it so much. So when you compete in that, again,
17:42
two very different experiences and the sport
17:44
also has just developed with the implication
17:47
of the Olympics. So like at the start, the first
17:51
Olympic cycle for those first three years, I
17:54
was pretty much the only girl, or at least the
17:57
only girl that was that dedicated the whole time.
18:00
There was like other girls on the team, but they
18:02
didn't, they didn't last the whole way. And I
18:06
was sort of guilty and being a bit like that's
18:09
sort of my comfort zone. Like I was fine with
18:11
that. And again, it was an individual sport.
18:13
I was happy being out there on my own. I was
18:16
single sort of, I was very much just a lone wolf.
18:19
And I think it was post Tokyo. a lot shifted,
18:23
like I got married recently, I was engaged a
18:27
couple years ago when I met my husband Matt.
18:29
I suddenly had this team around me, like two
18:32
teams, I had a support team with my friends and
18:36
family and I also had this team now with the
18:41
BMX and it was actually like a bit of a struggle
18:46
to adjust to that because my comfort zone is
18:48
sort of being that lone wolf. But then it was
18:51
an adjustment of, well, this team thing is sort
18:54
of being forced upon me because the popularity
18:57
of the sport and the investment of the sport
18:59
is going up and I'm being told to like be a role
19:02
model and do all this stuff and help people,
19:04
which I love doing all that, but I just sort
19:07
of, I had a lot on my shoulders and I didn't
19:09
know how to handle suddenly becoming the Olympic
19:12
champion and then having all these moving parts
19:14
of different people in what I had my process
19:18
figured out and it was all changing and I wasn't
19:20
doing well with like the change with that, honestly.
19:23
And I've learned a lot since then about, about
19:26
team sports and how now I have changed my perspective
19:31
on if I'm in a team, helping others often helps
19:34
me. And it's, it's a little tough in an individual
19:38
sport. You have to really drop your ego because
19:41
in one sense it can feel like if I help others,
19:45
then I'm not helping myself because they're getting
19:48
better. Therefore that. increases the gap for
19:51
me and therefore I'm getting worse and like I
19:53
was really stuck in that thought process for
19:56
a long time and I was kind of battling myself
19:58
as like I want to be a good helpful person and
20:02
I know I can help these people but like I almost
20:04
feel awful about doing it or like it's stressing
20:07
me out doing it because it's like making my job
20:09
harder and I was in a bit of a a tough loop so
20:12
that's definitely some lessons I've learned about
20:14
teamwork like painful lessons and now I embrace
20:18
it a lot more and I feel like an individual sport
20:21
whilst you're out there competing against everyone
20:23
at the same time you're competing against no
20:25
one because everyone's out there competing against
20:28
everyone so I kind of like that and it's a good
20:31
perspective and now I'll embrace team and feeling
20:34
like I've got that home support and life isn't
20:38
like all about me and it's an individual sport.
20:43
Sport itself is very selfish and it's actually
20:46
now it's healthier for me to have those distractions.
20:50
It's so interesting. So it's changed my perspective
20:54
a lot, a lot of learning. And you legit are competing
20:57
against these people, right? Like we talk about
20:59
from a professional situation where women feel
21:01
like they're competing for a role and maybe they're
21:04
not. Maybe it's just for attention or status
21:07
or whatever it is where we create this competition
21:09
in our head. But here you are in a situation
21:13
where you really are competing. Like somebody
21:15
could take your spot or get it in the next Olympics
21:17
or the next event, which is interesting to your
21:19
point of trying to balance that they can push
21:22
you, but then they could also take. your spot.
21:25
So especially as, you know, as more women probably
21:28
were getting involved in the sport, how did you
21:30
deal with that specifically with women with the
21:33
ego and the competition piece? And again, you
21:36
are competing, so it does make it interesting.
21:40
So how did you start to embrace that deal with
21:43
it as you continue to grow? You say like if you
21:46
help someone else in a team, your team gets better,
21:48
better, and therefore you get better. But if
21:51
you help someone else individually, it doesn't,
21:53
it sometimes doesn't feel like that. So I sort
21:56
of worked a lot on, it was a tough time and I
22:01
had to take a bit of a break and sort of distance
22:03
myself from it all. Cause I was just very wrapped
22:05
up in these negative thought cycles. So I did
22:09
that and took a long, long hard look at myself.
22:12
And I read, I read a couple of books that also
22:14
helped a lot. One was Ego is the Enemy by Ryan
22:17
Holiday and As someone who was always much more
22:22
under -confident growing up and felt a bit left
22:24
out and bullied and whatever, I always thought,
22:28
I'm not egotistical. Ego is being, I'm the best
22:32
and I'm all arrogant and you should think I'm
22:36
better than everyone. That's what I thought ego
22:38
was. And the start of this book just quotes,
22:42
ego is simply either, I think I'm better than
22:46
everyone, so you should treat me differently.
22:48
Or it's, I think I'm worse than everyone. So
22:51
you should treat me differently. And it took
22:54
a minute for me to handle like, how can being
22:56
under confident be egotistical? And then I would
23:00
sort of see the impact of sort of people being
23:03
all down on themselves, the impact it has on
23:05
the rest of the room and not being supportive
23:07
of other people. It really does. It sucks the
23:10
energy out of the room and it's kind of selfish.
23:12
And it's been a bit, instead of like dropping
23:14
your own... struggles that you have right now
23:17
and saying, you know, it's not my day, but it's
23:20
your day and let's make your day the best day.
23:22
And through doing that, it's going to make me
23:24
feel inspired and better about myself. So that
23:28
was like definitely quite a big journey. I was,
23:30
I was evaluating like, where am I getting upset
23:33
over someone that's doing something that's out
23:36
of my control. It's affected me so much. So it
23:39
was definitely a personal deep dive of, of ego.
23:42
And I eventually came up with. a quote that just
23:46
helped me get through it, which was swap comparison
23:49
for admiration. Instead of just saying stop doing
23:52
this or don't do that, your brain needs an action
23:55
to focus on. So I was like, okay, every time
23:59
I see like my competition do something in the
24:02
skate park, I'm going to tell my brain to stop
24:05
comparing and then give it something to focus
24:08
on and say admire it. So look at this trick in
24:12
my case that this that my competition's doing
24:15
and say wow that's so good like yeah I can't
24:18
do that but I hope I can like I hope I can learn
24:21
that or what what's she doing that I can learn
24:23
from that or how can I interpret that in my own
24:27
writing and that really helped me like put an
24:31
action in there to help get over my sort of competitiveness
24:34
with other women because it was like a real it
24:38
was a real struggle when you're used to being
24:40
the only girl in a male -dominated environment
24:43
and there's only a couple of you. It's a lot
24:45
easier to be compared against each other and
24:48
compare yourselves against each other and I think
24:50
that's where a lot of women just don't remember
24:53
to, that it's hard to like let go of yourself
24:56
and just support others but I think other people
24:59
have done it for me and it was so powerful and
25:03
I thought wow like it you don't have to say something
25:06
nice because I'm competing against you and that's
25:08
made me feel real good like I really admire that
25:11
and that's really strong and I think and I've
25:14
definitely heard like strong women support strong
25:16
women so so strong women support other women
25:19
sorry so it really made me think wow it is strong
25:23
to like be confident in yourself and you just
25:28
know yourself enough to be able to support someone
25:31
else and not be beaten down by it So yeah, I
25:34
swapped comparison for admiration, and it definitely
25:38
helped change my perspective on that. And now
25:40
when I see things that in the past would have
25:43
triggered me to shrink and feel bad about myself,
25:46
it makes me open up and go, what can I learn
25:49
from that? That's awesome. Give her praise and
25:53
just admire it and say, I want to do that, or
25:57
what can I do to contribute to that? Because
26:00
I don't think I would think that way about seeing
26:02
a boy do a trick like that. I would just think,
26:04
oh, they're just doing that trick and that's
26:06
cool. But if it was a girl, it's like a big deal.
26:09
It's like, oh, she's doing that, but I'm not
26:11
doing that. And it means all this stuff. And
26:13
it's like, drop all the meaning and drop your
26:17
ego with it. I love that. I love swap comparison
26:20
for admiration. That's such a great line. And
26:23
I think what's super interesting that people
26:25
don't realize whether it's in sports or professionally.
26:27
Sometimes we think that, oh, you get to a certain
26:29
level. You win a gold medal, you're a VP at work,
26:33
whatever it is, that suddenly you're confident
26:35
and you're not comparing yourself to others and
26:37
you're not going to be jealous or whatever it
26:39
is. And the reality is that's just kind of like...
26:42
in us. So does it matter to a lot of us? Like
26:44
what you have accomplished, you're still looking
26:47
around and, and it's taking that as a positive,
26:50
right? Like not making it a jealous behavior
26:52
or, you know, talking shit about somebody, whatever
26:55
it is, but to your point, taking that as a positive
26:58
and being like, Oh, that's great. That's awesome.
27:00
Because I think we just sometimes get in our
27:02
head that we'll get to a certain level and then
27:04
everything will be fine, but the reality is we've
27:05
got to quiet that voice or flip that script.
27:08
I think you get to a certain level and it actually
27:11
makes it tenfold harder because then you just
27:14
have this expectation of, well, now I'm the Olympic
27:17
gold medalist, so I have to be the best in the
27:20
room. Every time I enter the room, I have to
27:22
be the best in the room. That was kind of that
27:25
mentality that I thought at the time was helpful
27:28
and it was pushing me and it kind of was short
27:30
term, but it can only go so far and it's not
27:33
sustainable and it's not very enjoyable. So I
27:36
definitely felt like I lost myself when I started
27:39
focusing on meeting those expectations and I
27:43
wasn't adapting to change and I wasn't letting
27:46
my ego go and being willing to look at things
27:48
differently. That was when I was up against it
27:52
most. Sure. And you feel the pressure that you're
27:56
obviously putting on yourself, but then you feel
27:58
like everybody else has their eyes on you, pressure
28:00
on you, like, Oh, what is she doing? How does
28:01
she do that? Because they're looking up to you.
28:04
And hopefully it's an admiration. Like, I want
28:06
to be like, Charlotte, like, look what she's
28:07
accomplished. Are you considered old for your
28:09
sport yet? Like, are you one of the trailblazers?
28:12
Right. So, you know, looking up to the older
28:15
women who are in the sport, I'm sure you're like
28:17
this icon. So it's hard to be that icon status,
28:21
I'm sure. have too much pressure on yourself
28:25
so that I can see how that happens. But it seems
28:27
like you've taken the right approach to deal
28:29
with that. And I'm sure it's a daily, monthly,
28:31
whatever thing that you have to deal with. And
28:33
I think a lot of times we get stuck like, oh,
28:35
I talked about it in my head. I thought about
28:37
it and move on. But this is probably a constant
28:40
struggle that you have to stay focused on and
28:43
make sure you're being positive about it. Yeah,
28:46
it's definitely it's a daily practice, you know,
28:49
and I wouldn't I wouldn't even refer to it as
28:51
like a struggle I think it's just like a perspective
28:54
and a practice like you've never arrived like
28:58
I think the moment you think you've arrived in
29:00
knowing how life works and you've got all your
29:03
hacks and things I think that's when life will
29:05
slap you in the face and say no Yeah, because
29:10
that's happened to me. And I think it's definitely
29:12
like a constant practice. And don't get me wrong,
29:15
I'm not perfect at it. I veer away from it every
29:18
now and then. And I need reminding. And that's
29:20
why we call it practice. It's not perfect. I
29:23
think if you live in from that practice and that
29:25
idea, then on the whole, it just sort of makes
29:27
your life a lot better and you get a lot better
29:29
at it. Absolutely. I think now you have the opportunity
29:33
to be working with young athletes. So when you
29:37
are working with them at these camps, what kind
29:39
of mentality or mental toughness are you trying
29:43
to help, not instill in them, but just be a good
29:45
role model about? I think probably that number
29:48
one thing is the comparison, especially with
29:51
the Olympics being such a big part of our sport
29:55
now. You see a lot of kids starting it. because
29:58
they have seen the Olympics, which is amazing.
30:00
And they say, I'm so inspired by the Olympics.
30:03
I want to do that. But then they feel like they
30:06
have to be the best in the room. They feel like
30:07
they have to be better than their friends. And
30:09
I've seen the Olympics change the culture a lot
30:13
in the youth. And it's gone from this much more
30:17
relaxed sport where no one's competing against
30:19
anyone to then now there's a lot more comparison
30:22
and there's a lot more everyone's competing against
30:24
everyone for the Olympic sport. It's actually
30:28
like such a long journey and a lot can change
30:31
in a year, in three months, in a week. So it's
30:36
just really about staying in your own lane. It's
30:39
freestyle because you're supposed to do it freely
30:41
and there's no rules on what tricks you're supposed
30:44
to do. So I would just really encourage the young
30:46
people today to like stay in their own lane,
30:49
be supportive and encouraging of others because
30:51
it will make you better and they will do it in
30:53
return which is going to make you better ultimately.
30:56
And yeah, just focus on enjoying it because that's
30:59
where you'll find your spark and what lights
31:02
you up and what keeps you going. Because if you
31:04
can't find that or you lose that, it's a very
31:07
unforgiving sport if you're not enjoying it.
31:10
And I think that probably goes for any sport,
31:12
the amount of dedication and grueling hours it
31:16
takes. You've got to find a good balance of,
31:19
I'm doing this sport and it's something I do,
31:21
but it's not all that I do and it's just something
31:25
that I enjoy. So what's next for you? Not massively
31:30
sure. I've just taken 2025 as like a year off.
31:34
I set no goals other than very small, quiet goals.
31:39
And I just wanted to like see where it took me
31:42
because I've lived this structured Olympic life
31:45
for like seven or eight years now for two Olympic
31:48
cycles. I definitely felt like I'd sort of lost
31:53
my intuition a little bit as to like where I
31:55
really wanted to be and following my heart and
31:58
it didn't feel as exciting anymore. So I stripped
32:00
away all the competition, I stripped away all
32:03
the structure, I'm blessed enough to be able
32:05
to take a year out like very lucky to be in that
32:09
position. I felt like I found myself a lot again
32:11
and I was waiting for the answers to come within
32:14
me as to what I want to do so. Looking towards
32:18
2026, I do want to return to competition later
32:21
this year. As far as setting LA as the next goal,
32:24
I'm really not sure yet. I'm going to see how
32:26
it goes. And I don't mean the results. I just
32:28
mean emotionally, like if I go to the event and
32:32
I really enjoy it, or if I'm like, this is what
32:35
I thought it was or isn't what I thought it was,
32:37
and we'll just see. So trying to take the same
32:40
sort of approach as Tokyo, being really open
32:43
-minded. But I also want to have some side projects.
32:46
Like I want to help things in the community in
32:49
state college, where I recently moved to get
32:51
into a bit of public speaking. I hosted a young
32:55
women's event last year that was like a huge
32:57
success, where again, I got the girls to like
33:02
they competed against each other, but they also
33:03
had to work as teams. It was BMX based. So again,
33:07
trying to just trying to pass on the learnings
33:09
that I've got. now. And I did it because I want
33:13
to help the culture of BMX versus the Olympics
33:17
progress of BMX, you know, because the culture
33:20
is like what makes it special. Oh, and that would
33:22
have such a lasting impression. I love that you're
33:24
doing that, of course, especially with with young
33:26
girls and that sport. So that's awesome. So I
33:29
love that approach. Well, Charlotte, if people
33:31
want to connect with you, where can they find
33:33
you? I'm mostly on Instagram, which is my handle
33:37
is at Chaswerther, C -H -A -Z -W -O -R -T -H
33:42
-E -R. Awesome. Great. We'll put that in the
33:44
show notes too. Thank you so much for being here.
33:46
You have an awesome story and I know you're just
33:48
getting started, so I can't wait to see what
33:50
you do next. So thank you. Absolutely. Thank
33:52
you so much for having me, Betsy. All right.
33:55
Charlotte. She's the real deal. My biggest takeaway
33:57
pressure is trainable. You can rehearse the thoughts
34:01
you know are coming. Stay present in the process
34:04
and stop letting the outcome hijack your performance.
34:08
In that reframe swap comparison for admiration,
34:11
it isn't just a nice quote. It's a practice that
34:14
changes how you show up around other high performing
34:17
women. If this episode helps you, please subscribe
34:20
or follow below. Thanks for listening. Stay loud,
34:23
stay lifted, and practice your admiration.