Episode 181: Flipping Fear Into Fuel | Sydney Olson | Red Bull Athlete & Stuntwoman
Sydney Olson turned a childhood love of movement into a career as a freerunner, pro stuntwoman, and Red Bull Championship athlete. She shares how listening to her intuition helped her pivot from gymnastics to parkour, why falling is part of success, and what it takes to push your body, and mind, to new heights. We talk about creativity, confidence, injury recovery, and how she's learning to balance drive with rest.
“Power is control over your life. Owning your power. Understanding that you are capable of anything. You get to choose how you feel about things and how you react.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
CHAPTERS:
00:00 From gymnast to freerunner
01:45 Discovering parkour and chasing freedom
03:10 Building a career as a stuntwoman
04:25 Learning to fall and get back up
06:00 The mental side of extreme sports
07:40 Trusting intuition and staying grounded
09:15 Balancing creativity and physical risk
10:30 How journaling helps with mindset
12:05 Healing from injury and reclaiming identity
13:20 Reframing success and failure
14:30 Female athlete visibility and impact
15:40 Daily routines that support confidence
17:00 Power, purpose, and what’s next
I also just allow myself to trust the timing of things, right? Just do everything that I can and surrender to the idea that maybe this is the time for it. Maybe it's not, and either way, I'm okay. It would come to me in whatever way it goes to, and to not have expectations for things to work out a certain way.
That's Sydney Olson and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I'm Kara Duffy, an entrepreneur and business coach on a mission to help you live your most extraordinary life. By showing you anything is possible. People who have mastered freedom, ease and success, who are living their best and most ridiculous lives and who are making an impact are often people you've never heard of until now.
I love the idea of being an ask kicking superhero or international spy. Like nothing would make me happier than getting to live that for a day. So maybe we talk about making it happen in a future episode. But for today, like when I saw today's guest Sydney Olson's Instagram account, I was immediately intrigued.
There are all these videos of her doing ridiculously cool flips and jumps, and even jumping between buildings. I wanted to be like her. I'm like, how can I do that? And is that even ever possible? She's a Red Bull Championship athlete, a parkour athlete, a stunt woman, and so many more amazing cool things. I can't wait for you to meet her.
Welcome to the Powerful Ladies
Podcast. Thank you so much. Thank you for inviting me and taking time outta your day to go
on and just have a nice chat with me. Yeah, likewise. Let's jump right in and tell people. Who you are, where you are in the world, and what you're up to because you do not have a typical day that most people would have.
It's true. So I'm Sydney Olson. I am 29 years old. I live in Los Angeles, California. I am a stunt woman. I'm a professional railroading and parkour athlete. And I also do a little bit of acting and I just have a pretty crazy life. I travel a lot and it's like what I love to do, but yeah, I don't know.
I
don't know what else you wanna know, so I found you on Instagram and I love that I just find amazing women somewhere in the world and just forward them to my producer and be like her, please. She looks amazing. And every time I'm looking at your videos. My head first goes, that would be so amazing if I could do that.
And I think I could. And then reality checks in and goes, there's no way in hell you could ever do that. Like I could never, like you're doing these. Like insane and amazing, like flips and tumbles and leaping from things. And like my 8-year-old me wishes I was an adult that could do those things. But it is so amazing what you do.
How did you get into this? How did you make be, how did this become your career?
Thank you. And first of all, I do actually think that you could do it. It would just take time, but like with anything, it's just you shouldn't say that you can't because I
think that eventually you could, but I'll be holding you to that, so get ready for me showing up to be like book
for training.
If you ever wanna do a private, you should totally reach out. I could do a, but anyway. So long story. I started off as a gymnast when I was a kid. I was like the 7-year-old, really hyper girl. My parents put me in soccer. They were just trying to find something I could do that would, keep me a little bit more chill.
I was very high hyper, and so my sister was a gymnast and I would go with her to her gymnastics classes and I'd watch what she was doing. And then I would go home and I would try them in the front yard. And obviously that can be very dangerous. I was, I remember trying to do a round off back heads from back foot before I got any formal training on this.
I didn't know what I was doing. There was like this little hill and I thought if I just did another back handspring, but I missed my hands, I'd be doing the back flip. And so that's like my way of thinking about it. I wasn't scared, I just kept trying it. I'd like land on my neck and I'd get up and be like, yeah, that was a little weird, but I'll try it again.
So my parents after that were like, obviously we need to put her in gymnastics I was a competitive gymnast for about seven years, and I was really passionate for a lot of those years, but gymnastics just for me, didn't really fit the energy that I was going for. I wanted something a little bit more creative in the sense that I had a little bit more control there because gymnastics very regimented.
It's oh, this is what you're working on for. And it's about perfection, which looking back in retrospect, I just, I was never gonna achieve perfection, I quit when I was about 14 and I explored other things like snowboarding and just like a little bit of lifting that kind of stuff.
But I let the athletic side of me go away for a little bit. I focused more on school and friends and all that, and then, I started coaching gymnastics when I was 15, so it was a very long break from the gymnastics world. But as I started coaching, there was some guys that came in that did parkour, and I had no idea what that was.
They came in and they were just like learning new flips that I had like never seen, but it looked cool. And so I asked them if I could join them one night and they said yes, and I just had so much fun. I remember it being like the more fun that I've had in the past several years. I started training with them on a more regular basis and with park boards.
There's a lot to it. There's a whole lot of fundamentals that I was like avoiding training at the beginning, but I was more like excited about the flips. So I was just getting a lot of flips that I had from gymnastics back and then some new ones and I was learning how to do all of this on concrete, which is very scary in comparison to what I was used to.
Massive has mats and spring floors and it feels safer. Even though it's still gnarly, but taking it outside on concrete and something else, yeah, that was the background on how I got started with it, and I've been doing it for 12 and a half years now, so it flies by really fast.
I was 17 when I started, which is insane. And I didn't expect that it would take up so much of my life. As an adult I thought oh, it'll be a hobby I'll do on the side, but it became my entire life eventually, and I'm very grateful for that.
There's so many, things that you do today between the competitions, between doing stunts, were you surprised to learn that there were so many, basically like job options with having this type of skill?
Yeah. So there were no job options really when I first started. There wasn't really any women either. There was one other one that I was aware of that was really good named Lucy Berg, and she was a total inspiration for me. Eventually went on to become like my mentor, which was awesome.
But so when I first started hardcore was still a pretty young sport. And people doing it the way we were, it was just unheard of. And there weren't really much competitions or anything going on like that. And there definitely wasn't job opportunities, but I knew of a couple people from the Park War world kind of making their name in stunts because of, movies like James Bond, where people have to do a little bit of park work, Royal, all that.
I saw that as a thing that people did, but I didn't think it was for me, i, when I was 18, I became a nursing assistant. I was hoping to get into the medical field, so that was my purpose at the time, at least what I thought. And I just remember having this nagging feeling that I wasn't quite passionate about it.
I liked what I did, but I enjoyed more training outside of that, and I eventually went on to realize that there could be an opportunity working in stunts, which was something I used to joke about when I was a kid, that I wanted to be a stuntman someday, and I went to a competition in Vancouver, Canada, and when I was there I met a couple guys from Los Angeles and they're on Tempest Free Running, which is the team that I'm part of now.
And when I met them, I asked them how I could get into stunts because I really liked training and I was just wondering how that would all work. But. Stunts is also very different than Freerunning. It's not just the same thing. You have to learn how to fall, you have to do a bunch of other crazy stuff.
But anyway, they were very helpful. And actually a week later after the competition, I had booked my first job for a music video in Los Angeles. I was living in Seattle at the time, so I flew down to Los Angeles and I worked on this music video. I think it paid like 500 bucks. For me, like I had never made $500 in a day before.
I was so stoked. That was amazing to me. I did that job and as soon as I got back to Seattle, I was like I need to move to Los Angeles. Like I wanna somehow make this work becoming a professional parkour, freeing athlete
And a stunt woman. And so I moved to Los Angeles and of course it took a few years to get on that path.
I had to work normal jobs I had to coach for a while, which I also loved doing. But yeah, eventually it just came out that like sponsors were interested. So I was sponsored by Temple Spearing and also Yokohama Tire, and these brands were wanting to work with me, which was really cool. I think especially in the sport right now, it seems like there's actually a lot of opportunities for women to get sponsorships because there's so few of us.
So it's like this. Really cool thing to be a woman in this male dominated sport. But yeah, I had no idea when I first started that this would become my life in that way. I just, I don't know. It was never a goal until a few years in I was like, oh yeah, like I guess I'm doing it all the time. I might as well make this my life and make it my job.
When you're working as a stunt woman, do you get to collaborate with the filmmakers and directors about how a stunt should happen? Or is it more we need you to jump off of here? Bye. Figure it out. Yeah
so it can be a little bit of both. Sometimes I'll get a call like for something very specific of, you need to follow this roof and you'll be on a wire and we'll catch you a little bit before you hit the ground.
But yeah, you're mostly taking that impact. Or there, there are times where I worked on this TV show called Star Girl. It was the second season of that, and when I was working on that, it was a little bit more collaborative. The stunt coordinator would have ideas in mind, but he wanted to take my style of flipping and put that into the show.
So whenever there was an opportunity for that, he would ask me what I was comfortable doing and what we could do that would be exciting for me. So that was really cool.
Where is the coolest place that. Being this type of athlete has brought you. So many cool
places. I've been to Greece. I've been to Greece.
Is it four or five times now, which is crazy. I don't know how many people can just say that, like that they've been there for free each time. I've never paid to go to Greece, which is like really incredible. And then I have been to this place called Jang. Yeah, China. It was so beautiful.
It's the mountains and avatar. It's where they shot a little bit of that at. It's so beautiful. So there Matera, which is a really old city in Italy. It's one of the oldest cities in the world, 9,000 years old or something. And just, it's brought me to some really incredible places that I wouldn't go to if I wasn't doing this.
Yeah, I probably wouldn't really have interest in going to Madera or or that part of China. But yeah, it's brought me to some really incredible places and I'm so lucky.
We talk about powerful ladies. People often associate power with strength. And of course if you're an athlete, you are always checking the box of strength and traditional power usage.
When you think of the words powerful and ladies separately, what do they mean to you? And do they change when you combine them into powerful ladies?
Oh, that's a really good question. So powerful. The word, the thing that I would describe it as is the control over your life. I always think of basically owning your power, like understanding that you are capable of anything and that you get to choose how you feel about things.
You get to choose how you react. So I would say that's how I think of it. And then ladies, I also think of them as just powerful individuals. So like putting the words together. To me just makes an unstoppable force is the way I see it. Like women are very incredible things that we do. So
what have you been surprised with in regards to what your body's capable of?
Oh, these are good questions. I've had a lot of interesting moments where I was very surprised by what my body was able to do a lot of times where I was in a situation where a flip went wrong and I didn't know where I was near, and I was able to be safe on the landing, even though I just didn't know where I was.
I thought like maybe I was gonna come late on my head, but I've always been okay, which is really good. I've had terrible injuries like I have lived. Almost so my head broke my hand instead, which is way better than breaking your head. Yeah, but I've also had a moment where I did this slip into a foam pit and somehow managed to hit a metal bar, and that's why I have this scar on my face.
No. So yeah, things like that can happen sometimes, but I'm always. Very pleased with what my body is capable of doing. And recently, when I was just at this competition in Greece it's the Red bull of emotion. We had to make this one minute long video basically showcasing your style or whatever kind of theme you wanted to make it.
And for me, I just wanted to, I said I wanted to go hard. I'm like almost 30. I'm definitely the oldest competitor there. And for me, I just wanna show, it's like you can still go hard at my age. So I did this move that I hadn't done in years, and it's called a, but basically you go to the edge of a really high up thing.
It's like over my head height. And you put your hands on and you push off and you do, it's basically one and a half splits and you lay on your feet hopefully. So I, at this moment, I, like I said, I hadn't done it in a long time. My training, honestly, leading up to the competition, I hadn't been doing a lot of it, so I didn't really feel strong or ready for it.
But when I did that move, I was reminded of how strong I actually am. The fact that I'm able to take that kind of impact and not get hurt and to just be totally fine is really cool. And it just, yeah, it lights me up when I think about it. Even just the idea that you're so much more capable than you realize always.
Yeah. I'm familiar with, surfing and skateboarding, like every trick, having a name. And it sounds like it's the same in your world where every trick is called something named after someone or
it's true. Yeah. We have a lot of names for things and to someone that doesn't know the sport, it would probably sound really weird.
But I think there's even, there's movements that just don't have a name. You're like, I don't even know what to call this. And parkour is getting that way now because. People are coming in and they're so innovative in the sport, and they're just coming up with these new tricks that have just never been seen before in any regard, like in any sport.
So it's really to be part of it and yeah, I don't know. It's really cool.
When you look at where the sport has been and where it's going, what excites you?
Oh, it actually terrifies me. It does. It terrifies me Scarier and
scarier.
It is. Yeah. The level is just quite unreachable for at least myself, it feels like I would never be able to catch up to what the 12-year-old boys are doing these days.
Like it's unreal. And the same with the girls too. There's a, there's this, I think she just turned 16. There's a 16-year-old girl named, she's from Japan. Just incredible. Like she is, she's gotten so good in just the five years or whatever that she's been training and it's because. People have done it first, like I think we're entering into this world where the new generation has seen all this done before and then they can take it to the next level. And what excites me about this and the way the sport is growing is that there's going to be mo more monetary opportunities for those athletes. For me, a lot of my money comes from stunts and other things, and then parkour is like a smaller portion of it, but it still works.
But I think in time you're gonna see a lot more financial opportunities for people to just be an athlete and not have to also be an influencer. And
yeah, all
of that.
I'm so curious what your day or week actually looks like, because when I look at the stunts that you're doing, I'm imagining that you're in the gym for 15 hours a day just to be prepared for it.
So what is your day really like? How much training do you fit in? Do you fit in as much as you wish you could?
That's also a good question. My days are always different. They're very chaotic. I have a lot going on these days, so I train when I can. I would love to train more, but I feel like it's not a whole lot these days.
I can train for maybe a couple hours in the morning, two or three hours, and that's including weightlifting. So it's not actually that much. It used to be way more, but I, as I've gotten older and I've gotten more things going for me in my life. With stunts and like also editing on YouTube and just the connections that I've made with friends.
There's a lot more balance there, and that's what I've wanted in my life too. I don't wanna just be working out all the time, like I wanna be able to spend time with my husband and go on trips and do other things, basically a normal day for me. I wake up and I journal. That's really important. I do that for the first 30 to 40 minutes.
Every day I have my coffee and I journal and anything comes out. And I just let it, and then after that I will meditate and then maybe even read for a couple minutes. And then I normally have a healthy breakfast. I go to the gym and I work out from maybe nine to 12. And then after that, we can do whatever we want for the rest of the day.
Sometimes I have to do other things for work, like I have to respond to emails and stuff. And then other times it's oh, do you wanna go walk around this park? Do you wanna go for a hike? Do you want, what do you wanna do? And we'll do that and wind down at night. Sometimes I'll journal a little bit more.
Sometimes I'll watch House of Cards, I don't know. But on the work days, it's very different because if I'm working, it basically takes up the entire day. It just depends on what's going on. And next week we're going up to San Francisco because I'm working on some motion capture up there.
That'll be my whole week, which I'm excited for. Sometimes you, it feels like with work when it happens, it's so chaotic and there's so much of it, and you're just overwhelmed by how much there is, and you feel like you don't get a break. When there's no work you're like, what do I even do?
I, so much slower. It's, it goes from like super chaotic to so slow and almost like too slow. So that's my life. It's very all over the place, which I guess I like. Yeah.
Is your husband also in the industry? No, thank goodness. He
actually, he used to do parkour and we met through parkour, but he doesn't really train so much now.
He can still do some pretty good flips, which is always impressive to me whenever he does them. But no he doesn't have anything to do with the industry, nor does he want to. And yeah, I think that's a good thing for us. 'cause it, it keeps that balance.
Yeah. I imagine with your schedule it's.
The needing flexibility in all different places, to yeah. Have you be gone and come back and, do you guys get to go together a lot?
We do and we don't. He actually just moved to the US from the UK this year, so we're dealing with his visa issues and stuff. Yeah. So he's actually not allowed to leave the country right now.
We spent our first month apart since he's been here. I went to Europe for that for that month. And it was nice to have that time apart and travel and get to remember that who I am as a person on my own. And that just makes you a better couple too, is when you get to have that time alone.
But yeah if he can come, it's always nice if he does if we're going somewhere else and he's coming up with me to San Francisco so he can at least go explore while I'm working.
Yeah. You mentioned some your mentor who's been an inspiration to you in the sport. Who are other powerful women who have inspired you, guided you, or supported you along your path?
Yeah, so Lucy Romberg is one of the main ones. She was. Basically the pioneer woman of parkour, she just was incredible. She was doing all of the things that the guys were doing. And back then, that was unheard of to me because I really thought that there were no other women in the sport. So when I first started training.
There were the guys that I surrounded myself with, and they were up here as far as level, and I was down here and I was okay with it. And I thought, oh, a girl I'm not ever gonna be as strong as them. I'm okay to stay here. But then it came across Lucy's videos. I said, that is an excuse. That is an excuse and I need to change that.
So it I reached out to her. Probably a year before I moved to Los Angeles and just got input on how she was able to make a living and to my surprise, she had responded to me and she was just so bright. And eventually when I moved to Los Angeles, we got to connect and we got to train together and she doesn't train parkour anymore, but she's still an amazing stunt woman who's Melissa McCarthy Stunt bubble.
And she's also just super fierce in the stunt world. So yeah, she's taught me everything I need to know in this world, and I would not be where I'm at without her. So she's definitely helped me a lot. And then another person that I just wanted to mention is someone that I met up with this morning. Her name is Linty.
And we just had matcha together. She made me a matcha and I came over and we just talked, and I've actually only known her for a little less than a year. But the conversations that we have that bring a lot of healing and inspiration to me. So yeah, she's really great.
That's such a great point, right?
Because you are putting your body through so much every day with what you do, whether it's, standard training or doing stunts or being in competitions. You mentioned journaling. You mentioned having a great friend that can fill your cut back up too, literally and figuratively. Yeah. What else do you do so that you can make sure that you are at your best from an emotional, mental, spiritual side in addition to balancing that with the physical?
I have to get enough sleep. I'm working on that right now. I got this Fitbit recently and it tells me how terrible my sleep is. It's really bad. Something that I'm constantly working on. I guess I just don't really get into deep sleep. I get in like rev and light pretty easy, but the deep sleep is just not there.
So that's like the restorative stuff. But what I make sure that I do every day is my non-negotiable are eating well. I make sure that I eat enough. That's really important to me as an athlete, and I just make sure that. I'm fueling my body in the best way that I can. Sometimes that means Taco Bell, if that has to, but it's, it's just trying to be the healthiest version of myself.
And then yeah, the journaling has been by far the most life changing thing for me. I started doing, it's called the Morning Pages by was it The Artist Way is a book that I read by Julia Cameron. Julia Cameron, I think was her name. Yeah, she has this recommendation for writing three pages every day in a notebook.
Like first thing when you wake up, it's very stream of consciousness writing. And at first I had just thought oh, that's so much effort at first thing in the morning. Like I don't necessarily wanna be doing that, but if I wake up feeling anxious or just anything that, any fear or anxiety or anger, it just all comes out.
And then I feel so much better afterwards. It's just crazy. So I started doing that a year ago. And the things that came up, I was just, they really surprised me and they helped me work through a lot of insecurities that I had. And it's brought me to a new level with that. And I recommend that everybody do it because I just think it makes the best versions of us.
And then I, yeah, I always try and connect with friends that I know. Help me feel that cup, like you said, and. I just make sure to spend as much balance time as I can, like doing whatever feels exciting in that moment. I think following my excitement is another thing, if I don't feel excited to train that day and I feel more excited by going to the beach, like that's probably what I'll do because I know that sometimes my body needs the rest and listening to my intuition is like one of the most important things that I can do in my life now.
Yeah, I've been doing a lot of practicing the past couple of months about like choosing in the moment. Do I want, this or that? Because I think so it's so easy to get disconnected 'cause we just start following the plan that we put in or someone else gave us. And sometimes the hardest part is what's for me?
Like what's the workout gonna be for the day? And like yesterday I was like, we're strength training and I've been on a strength training kick and I got to the space for working out. I'm like. I think I need yoga. Like it, yeah. I'm just gonna pivot and it'll be fine. It's still movement, it's still doing everything I need to do for today.
But I just, I don't think we always, most people don't give ourselves space to choose and be flexible and to actually listen to ourselves. I think that's so important Also.
I think you're so right. I, and I notice I'm so guilty of it too, where I've, for a long time in my life, I had this. Very strong motivation to get whatever it is done, even if I didn't wanna do it, which is, it's great for a lot of things if you're trying to build a business or you're trying to become someone like you need qualities like that. But you also need to know that sometimes it's not in your highest good to do those things. Sometimes it is needing to step back and relax and go inward or whatever it is.
With doing yoga, like you said. And I think that's a beautiful thing to practice. You can have some really profound experiences by following that because it leads you to more synchronicities as well.
Yes. What are you most proud of up to this point?
That's such a hard question. It used to be accomplishments.
It used to be things very much rooted in accomplishments, like winning the Red Bull emotion or I don't know. So something like that. But honestly, right now what it is actually the person that I've become. And just being grounded and wanting to help others and be of service to others, I think is what I'm most proud of today.
I was just gonna ask you about, so what does it look like for you to give back and pay it forward?
For me, it actually looks like following my intuition and doing what's exciting to me, because I think what it does is it allows other people to see that and get inspired by that. And then it's also just making myself available for others and just letting them know that I'm always here for them and whatever they may need, I am available for.
So I think it's that it's leading by example. I'm living a life that I've dreamed of since I was a kid, and I love it and I just want other people to know that they can do the same. So that's what I'm trying to do. And much like you I'm actually starting a podcast on my own. That's one of the things that.
I plan to do is like being able to have these conversations more, and I've put a lot of stuff up on YouTube like this as well, but yeah I'd love to give back in that way too.
I'm happy to give you any podcasting tips that if you want them, I would love them. Okay, perfect. We could talk offline about some of that.
When we look at, there's been a lot of conversations lately about how women today have a lot on our plates. I know that when I woke up and Roe v Wade had been overturned, I wasn't angry at first. I was just frustrated that something else was put on my to-do list. But that was my first reaction oh, more work to do.
And I, when we look at women who are designing their own life. We have our career, we have our passions, we have what we do for health and wellness. We have, our friends and our families. And there's so many layers to what women are thinking about in a day and worried about on a regular basis and managing that.
I don't think we've always gotten credit for that. Like women to women we know. 'cause usually, even today with there being more balance between, mothers and fathers. There still is a disparity and when you think about all the things that you care about and worry about and want to make an impact in, how do you balance the size of the list that you have and knowing that we have to do it like one day at a time.
That's a very strong way to think about that. I think you're right. It's it's very crazy these days what women have to deal with. And I think for me personally, I'll balance these things by taking what's truly important at the time and just allowing myself to work on that and throw other things to the side for a moment.
And then just taking things one by one. I will get overwhelmed if I try and look at the size of my to-do list, but if I take things down, I actually do have a to-do list and a to manifest list, like things that I would love to see come into my life. Yeah. And they have to be separate because one feels very like in the masculine and one feels more in the feminine.
And so that's what I'm working with right now. But what I do is I also just allow myself to trust the timing of things, right? Just. Just do everything that I can and surrender to the idea that maybe this is the time for it, maybe it's not, and either way, I'm okay. It'll come to me in whatever way it's supposed to, and to not have expectations for things to work out a certain way.
So I can very much relate to the idea of having a lot on my plate and wanting to make all these things work. And I have sons, I have free wedding, I have YouTube. I have podcasts that I have friends, and a husband and a cat, and just a family and all these things that I want to make better in my life.
But, I can't do all that stuff every day. So I do have to just take the time to see what's most important today and what can I get done. Have boundaries with Yeah.
Some of those other things. Yeah, I know. Then the hardest part of boundaries is with ourselves, right? Yes. Yes.
Definitely. I wanna dig more into your to-do list versus your to manifest list. 'cause I am someone who is not, I was not born patient, and so if I want something, I'm like, we're doing it now. Let's go make it happen. There's a, I have a sense of urgency behind the things that I want to do, to manifest, to achieve, to change.
So for me, like a to-do list, I can work with, 'cause it's like, all right, we're taking actions. Now. A manifest list for someone like me is, it's hard because it is that surrender and that patience. So how have you protected your manifestation to-do list and. How do you work with that on a daily basis so that you can keep.
The manifestation in process and that surrender balance. 'cause I am, yeah. Very curious for your pro tips.
You and I are the same. I was not born with patients either. I am, I actually might be the most impatient person that I know. And it came to a point in my life where it was holding me back, for sure.
So this was something that I worked on actually through journaling for the past year, is understanding. Patients and the minute I let go of things, they actually come into place a lot easier. The hardest thing for me that probably happened in the past couple years was my husband actually getting approved to come move over to America.
'cause he was my fiance at the time. And we did the whole fiance Visa. And with COVID it took way longer than it was supposed to. Normally it's supposed to take six months and it took over a year and a half. Oh my goodness. And this was hard. I'm living alone. It's the pandemic like this is crazy for me.
And so every day I would get worked up about this and then I realized that was not serving me. I needed to just focus on myself and this would eventually come true and I would be super grateful for what it did. But I need to actually focus on having a good time now, otherwise. I'm not going to, I'm gonna look back on it and be like, oh, I could have done so much more with that time when I was on.
So for me, I have, like I said, I have the todo list. I have the to manifest list. The to-do list is very much action based. It's the things that I can actually do right now and get done. A manifest list is like things that they can be as simple as getting a free cup of coffee versus making $10,000, right?
Yeah. And you'd be surprised at how many come true just as soon as you write them down and just forget that they're there. I actually went to a coffee shop the other day. I have. Free coffee written down. And I went to a coffee shop the other day and I ordered a coffee and they forgot to make it, and they felt so bad that they gave me my coffee and that they gave me another one for free.
So then I meet up with my friend Kat and the friendship that I have with her is so synchronistic, it's not even funny. I actually decided I was gonna pay it forward and give her this free coffee. 'cause I know she goes this coffee shop all the time. I was like, Kat, I have something for you. I give her this free coffee thing.
She goes, no way. She pulls out the same exact thing and gives it to me. So I also still got the free coffee and I gotta pay one forward. But yeah, that's just a little story about how funny I find it, how magical the world really is. But yeah, for the manifest list. What I like to do is for each thing that I'm trying to manifest in my life, I will write them down in a journal as if they're happening in the present moment and like what I'm grateful for, and I'll lean into the feeling of how it feels to have this thing come to fruition, and then I just completely let it go.
As soon as that's over, I don't really. Try and think too much about it. I just know that it'll happen. There'll be a way to make it happen yeah, I don't try and look for exactly what I need to be doing at all which is rare for me. That's a new side to me that I didn't used to have because of the whole impatient thing.
I would try and control everything, but the minute you let go of control, that's when the really profound stuff takes place.
And I really like that your list does go from a free coffee to the big audacious. Wishes as well because I think when we put small things like a free coffee on our manifestation list, it lets the universe like play easier, because if all we're ever asking for is a million dollars.
That's a big thing to manifest. Yeah. So give it some small things to be like, we're here, we're playing. Don't leave For sure. Because you get
more confident with it too, is oh, I see that this is working like. Maybe I can dream a little bit bigger here, but I think it's, the interesting thing about manifesting like large sums of money too, is that, you can easily be like, oh yeah, I'd like to manifest $5.
That's easy. You could probably just find that on the street, but you can't find a million dollars on the street. So you could, it's be, it might be suspicious. Yeah. You could find it, but there's a huge chance. That's weird. Yeah. I think you're right. It's like a lot of it is the beliefs that we have surrounding it.
Like we don't necessarily believe that we can manifest a million dollars and that's why it doesn't wanna come to us and stuff. So yeah. I think it's giving it. The small things that would just be exciting to feel in the moment. And then having the bigger things also to look forward to and just knowing that eventually they'll happen some way unexpectedly.
That you, yeah. 'cause if you're trying to control everything, then. It's not gonna work out the way you think it is, like ever. Yeah. I think the pandemic was the perfect example of that, where people are like, I wish I had more time with my kids, or I wish I didn't have to work all the time. And then we got that, but it wasn't in the form that they expected.
So a lot of 'em didn't even appreciate what they had there.
Yeah, I know. And everyone was saying like, I just wanna go back to, normal in quotes. I was like, do you like, this is such an opportunity to reset and like really. Come back to choosing what you actually want because all the rules just got thrown out the window.
So why not use your power to do that instead? Yeah. That's really beautiful. I do think it's interesting that you were first place in the Red Bull Art of Motion in 2019 and then 2022, so you just missed the COVID gap yeah. Of opportunities, basically that. How hard was it to train during the pandemic?
At first it was
actually
quite easy. I like to train alone anyway so I didn't mind that. And I still had access to the Tempest Rearing gym, so I went there a lot. But my favorite gym ended up closing downs at the, I get sad about it every time I think about it. I know. It's so sad, but.
In 2020 I also booked like that star girl job, so I was gone for a lot of 2020 in Atlanta at the end of it and then I ended up hurting my rotator cuff to it, which was fun. Oof. So I ended up getting surgery in March of 2021 and so that kind of took out 2021 for me.
Recovering from that, which it's a major surgery if you have to get any kind of. Shoulder surgery, they ended up finding a lot more stuff wrong with it, so they did a whole reconstructive surgery, and that was a really beautiful time for me actually to reflect on what's important to me and to allow myself to slow down in ways that I hadn't before and just take hardcore out of my identity and understand that it's not who I am and that there's many things that make up me.
And that's just a great thing to have in my life, and I'm grateful for it. It's not everything. So I think that was a really good thing for me. And I know that kind of strays away from your question a little bit, but it more ends up being difficult to train because of those situations. During 2020, I was still able to do everything I could besides like the sadness that I would feel for, the way the world was and while I was grieving over the loss of like normal, yeah. And then but yeah, other than that, it was actually not too bad to train.
We ask everyone on the podcast where they put themselves on the Powerful Lady scale. If zero is an average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you put yourself on that scale on average and today?
That's a great question. I feel like I might actually float around a seven or eight normally because of how I. I feel like I'm able to bring things into my life and for others as well. But I feel like today I feel really good. So I'm just gonna put myself up outta 10. We're powerful today, aren't we?
We're, yeah. We're at the halfway point of 2022. So what are you excited about for the rest of this year?
I have another competition coming up in August, and to be honest, I keep going through this thing of wanting to compete and then not really wanting to, but I know it's something that will feel good when I'm done with it. So I, like I said, I'm getting older. I'm. Almost 30. I'll be 30 at the beginning of next year.
So this is my last year in my twenties. So basically I'm just learning and growing as much as I can. There's still plenty more trips to look forward to, I think in 2022. And, I just, yeah, I just wanna become a better version of myself this year. And that's what I have in mind
when you think about what's next for you.
So what's next after you choose to stop competing? Do you see anything yet? Are you still in that discovery space of what your, next phase of life could be.
Yeah, I'm still in the discovery phase and I've let go of a lot of expectations for what I think it could be. 'cause I think that's been really hard.
I actually thought I was done competing before this year and I was at peace with it. I was still very much having a hard time with it, and then I leaned in that feeling and I was like maybe I'm just not done. That's all I could mean. So I think the issue with what I do for a living is I know that it has a shelf life.
Especially the favorite, the stunts you can do for quite a bit longer and then you can become a stunt coordinator and all that. So I think those are definitely like more down my path is I would like to do more of that, but I feel like when I'm done competing, I want to make this platform where I can help people find what they're passionate about and what makes them feel powerful.
So I think that's somewhere in the line. I just haven't figured out how I wanna make that work yet, but I feel like that would be something that I would love to do.
That's what I do all day long, so happy. Yeah. It's to be an advisor there too. Yeah. No it's the fact that every day I'm helping people clarify what their dream life and business really is and how to make it all work and how to be fully self-expressed and just we try so hard, I think, to do what we think we're supposed to do versus the capacities of what we could do.
And who we are, and to find career paths, whether they're for-profit or nonprofit, whatever that looks like. Where you get to just be you and make a difference is so refreshing because, we think that you have to like, I need to be an accountant. And you're like only if that's your love language.
If that's what you love nerding out on and how you love helping people, great. But if you're doing it because it checks a box for I'm a professional. It will never have the same flow and excitement and attraction to what you really want. That you, if it was something else yeah, that's why we do this podcast.
'cause there I love showcasing women like you who are surprising yourself with holy shit. This is what I got to do and this is what we're still doing. And. Obviously that comes with so much practice and training and all the things that go with it. It's not like being in our space is permanent or, so it's really like a in the moment, how do we use it?
But it's never easy. But it feels different.
I couldn't have said it better myself. And I just, I wanna thank you for the work that you're doing too, to help people discover that they don't have to be an accountant if they don't want to, I think that's the biggest thing. I saw that one of the questions that you might ask was, what's your favorite quote?
And I actually wrote down this one was, the only limitations are the ones I put on myself. And I think that's the biggest lesson that I've learned in life. Yeah. I don't remember who said that quote, but. I love it, and I try and take that and remind myself that every day, as soon as a negative belief comes up or I'm using an excuse for why I can't be something or do something or whatever I'll remind myself that.
It's just, that's just why it's the limitation that I'm putting on myself. It's not actually that way unless I want it to be.
And is that something that you've had to learn or do you think you've, o were you born. With just a bigger awareness than a lot of people have. Were you already more leaning that way or did you have a moment you're like, oh wow, I can blow the top off of what I was expecting?
I think I was sensitive to it when I was a kid. Yeah. I look back on a lot of memories that I had as a kid and a lot of ways that I felt about certain things, and I think as a child I was very much in tune with that. And then it went away somewhere. Yeah. Probably my, my first gymnastic coach was abusive and I didn't realize it when I was a kid, and I think that's what might have pushed it away a little bit for a while.
Yeah. When I first started training Park Corps, it brought me back to that 7-year-old me that was flipping in the grass. I was like no, I can do this. And like really believed in herself. And so I think that was a way for me to see like how connected it really is and how, like anything is limitless.
But I, I definitely had to learn it. Like it wasn't something that through my teen years and my early adult years that I genuinely believed. Like I, it is interesting though, 'cause I think that's a good question for me because. I, when I decided to move to Los Angeles and pursue this, I had no doubt that it would work.
I just, I had no idea when, and I didn't know how, but I wasn't gonna stay in my hometown that I wasn't happy with. So maybe there was like this inherent understanding that just wasn't conscious yet, but but it's something that I've learned over time was that, if I can make this work, like what else can I make work?
I feel like if there really is no end to it, and that goes for anybody as well.
For everyone who wants to follow you, support you, hire you, collaborate with you, where can they find you and how can they get in touch?
I'm most active on Instagram. It's at Sydney Olson, one that's S-Y-D-N-E-Y-O-L-S-O-N, number one.
And then I am also on YouTube. If you just type in Sydney Olson, it should come up for you. I don't even know what my YouTube link is or anything. And then, yeah, hopefully I'm starting a podcast soon. I've recorded a couple episodes. I just need to put them out, to be honest. So that will be called Collecting Scars podcast.
When that comes out, you can look for it.
It has been such a pleasure to have you on here. The, your story and what you're up to and the conversation just about like self-belief and expanding what we think our limits are. I think so many people need to hear for the first time, and of course we always need a refresher in that space because the world the world tends to be.
Working against us in expanding. And so we have to keep pushing it and rejuven it and having people in our circle who are like no, you're better. Go bigger. Yeah. So that's so important. I also think it's so important to always be asking for what we need. So we've been asking everyone this year what is something that you're looking for once or trying to manifest that maybe someone listening has the next step or the key for,
Sorry, I really have to think about this one. That's a hard thing. Yeah, there's just, there's so many in my mind, but feel like, yeah, I'm looking to start a business to help people. That's like what I really wanna do. I think that would light me up a lot. So I think that's what I'm trying to manifest as a way to make that happen in a way.
That is the most obvious choice. Like I, I think it'll come up that way, but I just haven't seen it yet. So I'm just putting it out there and hoping that maybe something that's very obvious will come up.
I love that. Thank you so much for taking your time today outta your day to come hang out with me and our audience.
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself, and thank you for being a powerful lady that we need to see out in the world.
Thank you for being a powerful lady and taking all of these conversations, being out there for people, inspiring them. So I really
appreciate you asking me to be on the podcast and yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Coming out and sharing with the love
all the links to connect with Sydney Earner. Show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. They're critical for our podcast visibility and getting us in front of more people like you. Who would love to hear this episode.
Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, visit kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram. I'll be back next week with a brand new episode and new amazing guest. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Instagram: @sydneyolson1
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Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
