Lessons From Rudy Ruettiger

Rudy Ruettiger, inspiration for the sports film “Rudy,” spoke to a group of local business leaders during a recent event at the Menlo Group office.

Like many fans of the film (including Kobe Bryant!), I’ve been inspired by Rudy’s story for many years, and I enjoyed getting to hear him tell it in person. He fought hard to get into Notre Dame, to make the school’s football team and then to make a movie about his experience.

Here are a few nuggets of wisdom I learned from Rudy’s remarks:

1 - Have a dream

Rudy achieved many of his dreams, and he stressed the importance of having a dream. My personal growth and progress has stemmed from always having a dream to pursue. You should always have your sights set on the future and ask yourself, “What’s the next dream?”

2 - Surround yourself with the right people

The company we surround ourselves with can impact our success. Rudy taught that you don’t want to be around too many “why” people, who constantly question your methods. Instead, you should surround yourself with “when” people, who support you to make things happen.

I took that idea one step further: surround yourself with “win” people, who push you to reach your goals.

3 - Have heart to be a champion

In his presentation, Rudy talked about how champions have heart. For me, I related this to The Gap and the Gain by Ben Hardy. I want to have a “gain” mindset and recognize when I am in the “gap,” so I can quickly get out of it.

4 - Don’t be afraid to fail

Finally, Rudy repeatedly told our group, “If you aren’t failing, you aren’t trying hard enough.” He has failed a lot throughout his lifetime and career.

For me, when I fail, I tend to get in my own head and start to question myself. However, fear of failure limits our ability to be great.

From my experience with Rudy, I felt that there is more that I could be doing, but I have to be willing to fail to reach those outcomes.

I enjoyed Rudy’s remarks and shared even more thoughts about the experience in this video.