Why Miron Pingasov Left Professional Racing at 17

00:00
Some life shifts come from a single moment and others just build slowly until you really can't ignore them anymore. In this episode, I talked with former race car driver, Moran Pingasov, about walking away from the only life he had ever known and choosing something different. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to build a life with purpose. It's a story about growing up, letting go, and learning to trust your own instincts. And that's when I said, okay, so number one.

00:30
you could really get hurt doing this. And when you're racing, you're not even so much scared for yourself, you're just scared for the people that love you. What will happen to them? And then, of course, I just kept seeing that the governing body didn't really care because,  as you know, today they're still having races at the same track. And for me, it was like, well, that's the same thing as I take my car and go drive over a graveyard. So I was like, OK, something has to change here.

01:00
I'm Maciel Huli, and this is the Life Shift,  candid conversations about the pivotal moments that have changed lives forever.

01:18
Hello, my friends. Welcome to the LifeShift Podcast. I am here with Miron. Hello. How are you? Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm good.  Well, thank you for wanting to be a part of the LifeShift Podcast. Thank you for reaching out and pitching yourself to be a part of the show. Yeah. No, thank you. Thank you for  inviting me at the very end.  I'm really excited for you to share your story today because I think it will be one that will inspire people to do something, whether...

01:47
that's kind of nagging at them and they're afraid to do it. thank you for just wanting to share your story. Yeah. So everything that I went through in life, because I  went through some pretty, I wouldn't say tragic things.  don't know, fortunately, guess, things in general that  are not easy, especially when you are younger. And also I was a kid, for example, from my racing career,  like crashes where...

02:15
I would arrive home with a broken collarbone or just other people crashing, people that you know and they are like in pain,  they're injured, severely injured. So just like seeing that, I think I also always thought that I am the only one going through this  stuff.  But recently I also realized like everyone is going through something  and I mean, you will never understand it unless of course, you befriend them or you become good friends because at the...

02:44
At the end of the day, nobody opens up  from very first moment you meet them. It's also  some time that has to pass before he can trust you.  So you never know what other people are going through. And I think it's very important, as you said, because some people don't know if they should do it.  They think, oh, I am the only one thinking this. There is something wrong then. As it turns out to be, well, they're not the only ones. They might be.

03:13
I don't know, the tenth, the hundredth, thousandth person, we never know. Yeah, lots of people have had very similar stories and I think you're right though. think sometimes when we're in those moments though, it just, you do, you just feel so alone. Like no one else could possibly understand what  I'm feeling, even though logically we probably know, like we probably realize we're not the only person that's ever experienced whatever.  You one thing that I found really interesting and  kind of what you were saying,

03:41
kind of made me think of this is throughout this journey of talking to other people, and I don't know if you do this, but sometimes I would be conditioned of thinking,  oh, that person's story is so much worse than mine. Like mine is  nothing compared to so-and-so's story because they went through such trauma or whatever it may be.  And I talked to someone and they were like, you realize that your worst moment is equal.

04:08
to my worst moment because for both of us, it was the worst thing we've ever experienced.  And it really level set things for me and made me think, oh, you're right. We've both experienced the worst thing we've ever experienced. so therefore we can relate to each other, even if our stories are totally different. I don't know if that resonates at all with you. No, I mean, I think it  makes perfect sense. Of course, I mean, different people have different depths of this like worst moment, but of course,

04:38
Like my depth cannot be  more than your depth because I haven't felt anything worse.  I guess it makes sense, but I guess like still things that are, you I don't know, maybe my worst moment in, you know, if we open it up to the public is not maybe as bad as your worst moment. But at the end of the day, it's, of course it's, it's the worst moment for both of us. I think sometimes we're just like, oh no,  you know, I lost my mom at eight. can't, it's worse.

05:08
that someone lost their mom at five, you know, like, and at that point, it's just pretty terrible. So maybe you can start this conversation by telling us in 2025, who are you in this world? Like, how do you identify? Who are you? So I guess the first things that that comes, you know, like the first, let's say, who am I is, I mean, I'm a student. I cannot deny that. Like, I'm still in university. I'm still 18 turning 19 and a bit.

05:38
I've completed the first year of university, so three more years to go. But on the other hand, which I resonate more with  is, you know, like I'm not a multi-businessman. Like I don't own multiple companies, but you know, I'm trying to build a business here with my family. Of course, my father, my uncle, and the others that are in this company have already had their businesses, but they're also like, they're much older than me. So I guess.

06:07
I don't know, a shareholder in our family business. also, I don't know, I'm not a, you know, like I'm not professional pilot, but I'm a private pilot. just got a license last year. So I don't know. It's multiple things that I am in 2025, but the most I resonate with are the student section and the business section. So yeah. Would you say you're an entrepreneur? I feel like you have that spirit in you.

06:35
That's a good question because I always think that entrepreneur and businessman, even though people use them at the same level, are a bit different.  don't know. I would say just like I'm a co-founder of our family's company. I wouldn't say I'm an entrepreneur. think it's just entrepreneur is someone who opens some new technology. That's how at least I understand it. Whereas a businessman, it can be something to do with something.

07:03
that has already been invented, but he just owns that business and runs it in the industry. I don't know. That's something I have always differentiated. I do like to change courses and try something new, especially  recently I realized that there is nothing wrong with trying something new. The worst that can happen, okay, your idea doesn't work, you move on to the next one, which most people are afraid of.  I don't know. guess yes, I guess that I do have this entrepreneurial mind, but...

07:32
Yeah, as I said, I haven't invented anything new yet.  Well, you don't have to be an inventor. You can just be looking to change the way things work in your own life. And I think that's good. think  a big thing that you just said is like not being able not being afraid of failing because I think, you know, at least  growing up, was like, failing is like the worst thing you could do. So a lot of the decisions that I made were like, chose the easy things because I knew I would be good at them.

08:01
Right. And so they weren't challenging.  And then I look back and I'm like, oh, God, I wasted a lot of time not trying the things that I might be bad at because I probably would have learned more by messing up and failing at things.  So from what I've seen from the outside, the very little that I know, it feels like you have some kind of spirit that that I would associate with an entrepreneur. So do what do with that what you want. Yeah. Fair enough.  So to get into your life, you're

08:29
Dori, maybe you can kind of paint the picture of your life leading up to kind of what we're going to define as the line in the sand of things that have changed. And I think a lot of people listening are like, he's 18, almost 19. Like, how is this possible? But you've I mean, you've had two lives, right? So you the picture of your life leading up to this change. So, yeah, I guess the first part of my life was racing. I was racing professionally until 2023. So until I turned 17.

08:59
I started at five, but not professionally.  At five, I started with what kids start, like the go-karts. My father always liked racing. I think deep down he wanted to become a racing driver, but it's just when I was born, he was a bit too old to start.  He wasn't old in terms of the age. He wasn't physically ready to start a professional sport. So yeah, and I went  all...

09:27
So from karting, went all the way up to  Euro Cup 3, which  other people might call Formula 3 regional, because there's the Formula 3 that races around the world and then there's Formula 3 that races only  Europe or other continents. When did you start getting into the professional aspect of it? So the professional aspect, I guess it was when I started racing  in Italy and that was...

09:56
I believe 10. Wow. Yeah. What are you racing at that time? Like an actual race car? I mean, it's no, it's still a go-kart.  You're not allowed to race, I think. Well, at least single-seaters. I'm not sure about other cars. But single-seaters, you are not allowed to race until you're 15.  And  funny enough, I became the youngest Formula 4 driver because I turned 15 like a month or so before the race.

10:23
and I was  the youngest ever F4 driver. But yeah, so from 5 to  15, I was racing go-karts. And then from 15 to 17, I raced two years in single seaters.  I mean, can't even imagine what that's like. Where were you growing up? Like, where were you living at the time that you were,  able to do this? And what was your day to day like? Were you racing all the time? Or was this just, I mean, it seems like you would have to if you're going to be professional.

10:51
I mean, so I used to live in Barcelona for those 12 years.  We moved also with my mom, not only because of racing, but because of school, you know, and just like more prospects, more perspective if we wanted to move to other countries and, you know, move to an international level of racing. So we moved there,  lived there for 12 years.  And then to answer your question about whether I was racing every day.

11:20
Well, that's the funny thing about racing. So it's really  limited because  to make it like really equal, the racing, the federation that controls the,  you know, like the championships,  they restrict your training. They restrict the amount of time you can go onto the track and actually drive the car. So what normally people do, like other race car drivers, we often do gym.

11:47
I started going to the gym at eight, required a lot of contracts from my father, my mother for them to sign that a waiver for the gym that I'm allowed to do this with a personal trainer  was crazy. When you're young, it's just physical preparation and driving. You do get to drive more than you do in professional, like single seaters, because, know, like at the end of the day, nobody knows if you're going to make it professional  when you're in karting.

12:16
And then when it gets to  single seaters, that's where the federation really restricts your driving. So you cannot drive on the same track one week before the race,  things like that. So they  really want to equal the field for everyone to have  realistic and  a fair amount of testing and opportunities. And there's where you really change your perspective, because that's where you need to work.

12:45
a lot of off track. That's where  your simulator comes in play. So you have literally a simulated car in your bedroom. That's what me and a lot of other race car drivers have. And usually you spend, I don't know, you spend every hour you have on it.  So if you're not going to school, you do a whole day of simulator and you just race, race, race, race, because it also helps mentally, because when you're racing, what's...

13:14
you need to judge very well what's the other guy going to do in front of you. How about the guy behind you? Is he going to attack you now or do you need to defend? So it's just really, really complicated. So it's just training, training, training, training. So that's why you need to decide early whether you want to say, OK, that's it. I'm going professional and I'm dedicating my whole life to this or it's just not going to work.

13:40
because the amount of work people do just keeps compounding and you cannot keep up if you're not fully dedicated to it.  Were you enjoying it? Was it something that you liked to do from five to a certain age? Or did you feel like you had to because your parents were putting so much into it?  What was your feeling towards it during that period? I really loved it. I don't particularly like it now when I look back at it. But I mean, the time I went out, so I...

14:10
like retired, I not really retired, you I could keep on going. It's just like I stopped. And the reason I don't really like it how it's done now, so like this particular moment, it just like the sport, the essence of the sport just disappeared. It went all into, you know, marketing, selling, funds.  just became like,  yeah,  it just became like really dirty.

14:35
Also, you know, with  social media now, with a key role in social media, people that were, you know, having 200,000 followers and never raced in their life, suddenly they get the chance to race Formula Four and it's like, what are you doing? Why are you putting this kid he never  drove? And people that only spend their life in simulators, a lot of teams wanted to try them out, but even though they spend their whole life on simulators, they've never, you know, invested into a career, let's say.

15:05
A simulator, it can set you back, if you do it professionally and you buy a really, really good SIM, it can set you back $10,000, but not much more than that. Whereas when you're doing it professionally, especially car racing, it can set you millions of  millions of dollars, especially at those starter levels where sponsors  are not really keen on...

15:33
sponsoring because they don't get any value of it. Of course, it's kids racing karting and okay, karting is not that expensive, but mean, sponsorship comes into  play as soon as you get into single seaters. So  when you were doing that and you were, did you start to notice that it was feeling a little like dirty or it wasn't fair in the competitive nature or  is that looking back now at it that you kind of noticed those things?

16:00
Yeah, I guess I started feeling it the last year. I don't know why, but you know, like when you're racing, also there is a point where you just start to think differently. Like you're mature and everybody matures at different points. And it just, it's so obvious because when you're racing as kids and then there's someone that, you know, something clicks in your head and there is someone suddenly like, you know, doing better than you, you like...

16:27
immediately see it, that the way they think has become different, they matured. I don't know, I think for me it came late, but not in the sense that it came late because  I was the oldest one and suddenly something clicked.  I think it came late because I was always the youngest one and it was always so hard to compete with  other people that are  six, seven, 10 years that are older than me.

16:55
And I don't know, I think that set me down a bit.  That's why it took quite a long time to understand how others think. Yeah, mean, that's why I started, guess, seeing it more on my very last year of racing, that something is going on here. It's not  the sport I guess I fell in love with. It's just starting to seem off. And so you kept going though, I guess in that last year. What made you want to...

17:24
I'm not going to say quit, what made you want to retire from it and  not do it any longer? Because I mean, it was your life for 15 years. a couple of things.  like,  I guess in racing also, it's it's a lot of factors combined, no matter like what aspect you look at winning  sponsorship. It's a lot of factors combined. For me, why I stopped. So there were a couple of things.  One of them was that we were moving with my family to US.

17:53
And  of course, I could have went into IndyCar and  IndyPro and all of those American series, which I started doing. But then after that year, I was like, yeah, well, something doesn't work out. And also,  our visas got delayed. So in Europe, the team didn't want to sign me for half a year because they knew that in the middle of the year, I would be moving. That's when my visa would  get back to me.

18:21
And whereas, you know, American teams, of course, also said, well, how can we sign you for the  like last part? So I guess one of the reasons was because I took too long of a break because of this move, because we were uncertain where we were going. Teams were like, yeah, but look, we want to win a championship with you. you're, if you're like, if you're racing for half a year, how can we do that? So they didn't see the point. The other factor was that  I started to like say, well, something is wrong here because like

18:51
First of all, it's becoming dirty. It's becoming way too political. Everything is way too decided. You you have no power into actually  saying or making it professionally if others don't want you to. Like it's already decided for you. So I'm like, okay, so here's the other thing. So people are investing money in me, sponsors, you know, my parents invested a huge amount of time just to, you know, drive me when I was younger and

19:20
fly with me to the races and spend the time  encouraging me and so on. I was like, OK, so if I cannot make it professionally because  of...  When I say professionally, of course, I was doing it professionally because  I was getting something paid by sponsors and et cetera. was working with... But when  race car drivers say it's professionally, it's either Formula 1  or  those IndyCar 24-hour of Le Mans, something like this.

19:49
So if I cannot make it to those levels, basically, it's like all the time that has been invested in all the money, I don't even have the power to return it to the people who invested in me. So that was another thing. And then on the very last year, what I saw was the most disgraceful thing I've ever seen was that,  my close friend and teammate,  Dylan van Hoff, died on a race. So  he crashed in Spa Franco Champs, which is like the very famous circuit in Belgium.

20:19
And he crashed in a race that wasn't supposed to be held. So essentially, the governing body of the race just did a mistake and he died for that reason. Because it was, first of all, way too foggy. There was too much water for cars to go on track. And it just piled up and then  that's what happened.  And  that's when I said, So number one.

20:47
You could really get hurt doing this. You could really like, that's number one. And when you're racing, you are not even so much scared for yourself. You are just scared for like the people that love you. What will happen to them? Like if something happens, how will my mother and my father and my sister live with it? Knowing that they essentially put me into this when I was younger. So that's,  that's, that's one thing. And then of course, I just kept seeing that the governing body didn't really care.

21:16
Because  as you know, today they're still having races at the same track. And for me, it was like, well, that's the same thing as I take my car and go drive over a graveyard.  That's not something that  should be done. Even if you look at it ethically, it's not even about  who died there. It's just about what are we doing here?

21:42
And the government didn't like the governing body didn't change anything. They didn't change the calendar. They didn't try to adjust the track where the corner where he crashed. They just continued on racing. And that's when it was like, OK, guys, you know,  two people have died there in the last five years. And you are just  keep investing money and keep making money from dead bodies. So was like, OK, something has to change here. Yeah, you were saying that it wasn't about you. It wasn't about the love of the sport.

22:11
it was that they just wanted to make money. was becoming right. mean, I'm assuming they held the race because if they were to cancel it or postpone it, they would lose money. Yeah, I would assume. Right. And so therefore you  I'm sorry. I mean, you lost your best friend. That's tragic in any case, whether  that is the career essentially that you were in. And so I can imagine that's

22:40
extra hard because you're in that, but I mean, just losing a best friend in general in any way is really traumatizing. So do you think that him dying in the sport that you were loving for a while and then maybe not loving as much, do you think that was really the impetus, the thing that kind of pushed you to be like, I don't know if this is worth it? I guess part of the reason, but as I said, it's not for me, it's just for the people that surround me.

23:10
Like, I have no idea. I just cannot imagine what would You weren't worried about dying or anything like that and going top speeds?  I mean, was just, you know, like  I, you know, I crashed, like I had the three really, really bad crashes in my life when I was even younger.  Broke a collarbone. Don't remember what else I broke. Like there were so many.  But in those times, like, I don't know how to explain it, but people that do professional sports are not like sane people.

23:39
Like what kind of person goes into, you know,  professional sport and says, like any sport, let's say mountain biking, you know, those trail bikes that you go like really, really fast down the hill. what kind of normal person goes, you know, 30 miles an hour down the hill. Like that's not something that comes to mind when you, when you're born. So I guess,  no, I was never worried if something happened to me. And when you're a kid, you don't realize like that's why also you go.

24:08
Like you go to professional sports  so early because you don't understand, you don't have any fear. Like you haven't experienced anything. So  no, not really. No, it wasn't because of me. was just about the, yeah, about the people that surrounded me. But mostly it was just like,  since we're talking about also, you know, what I'm doing now and running businesses and et cetera, just from a business perspective, it wasn't right. Because as I said,

24:38
If money is invested in you, you have to somehow return it. It doesn't have to be necessarily money, like money for money, but it has to be in some way. It has to be in some advertising way and so on. Everything is so decided and everything is so controlled. It's like, it's literally like, you know, the mafia where you're like, okay, well, it doesn't make sense if, you know, people are being, if people are dying here and, know, you could be the next one.

25:07
you have no chances to make it to the actual, you know, like the top, top levels of racing because I don't know  who knows why. I  don't know, people don't like you.  They think that  like whatever it can, it can just be whatever. Yeah. There are no rules. Yeah, exactly. There are no rules. No, I mean, luckily, you know, some of my teammates from five years ago when we were kids have made it into F1. I'm really happy for them, but

25:36
was just like, not the way to, especially in Europe. Like, I don't know why, but it's really  the really political or really like,  you know, bureaucratic, let's say racing,  like is in Europe. Like over the years,  like it started evolving in Europe more and more, like Formula One, Formula  Three, Formula Two, and so on. In America, when I see Indycar,

26:05
It's not so much like it's racing for racing. It's just pure sport. When you're in karting, one of the things you miss when you're in cars racing professionally is karting because there was no pressure. You didn't know what you were doing. You were just doing it, you know, because you loved it. So, I don't know. I think IndyCar is doing a very good job. They created a nice championship where everybody has equal terms. It's just sport. Nobody's controlled people.

26:34
from all over the world, doesn't matter where you were born, what you have done in your life, you can still make it into IndyCar if you enough backup from sponsors and you have enough, I guess, enough skill to make it. I don't know, it's something like a bit weird for me, but I guess that's the two main reasons. Do you look back on the time when you retired from this? Do you see a spot?

27:02
or like a particular line where you're like, you knew  that was the right decision. Like  you got an email or something with your visa or you got a new opportunity. Was there like a very specific moment that you were like, done? This is  a definite moving in a new direction. I think it was in early 2024, like February, March.  One of the things that helped me realize that it was the right thing to do where of course my parents, they have, you know,

27:31
accompanied me  from five since  I started racing.  And my mother was  always supporting me mentally. She was always encouraging me, motivating me,  keeping me stay cool, calm before the race and so on. My father was more on the managerial side, so he managed my career more. And that's when we sat down with them.  I was already 18. I'm not a kid. I can understand what they're saying.

28:00
And we said, OK, so if I continue doing this, there is no guarantee that I'll make any money out of it. Because if I do have to return some money to sponsors that  backed me up some years ago, then I'm essentially left with nothing. There is this chance that I might really hurt myself, die, or whatever. And then.

28:30
there is a chance that I might make it to a good level, but then people just say, oh no, now we don't want you and bye bye. And then what do I do? When you're in F1, you're already 22. You could go back to university, but that's not the tendency. The tendency to go to university and start working and so on is when you're 18, not 22. You do not restart your whole life at 22. That's very hard to do. It's possible. It's just very hard to do.

29:00
So it was a conversation, essentially, like there's a better chance of you having some kind of  real plan, if you will, of like going to school, getting a degree in whatever you're interested in and continuing the business minded part of you rather than taking a huge chance. Yeah, it was like pinpointing idea. Exactly. That's like what they call it. They said like, you want to take this huge chance? Fine, we'll support you. But like, what will you do after? We don't know. So.

29:30
They just help. When you have a mentor, let's say, he doesn't tell you what to do. He just asks the right question. And you just need to figure it out. So that's exactly what they did. They just  asked the right questions. They said,  there's three things that  can happen, and there's three things that cannot happen. And you choose.  You have the power to choose. You're not a kid anymore.  You are legally old to make your own decisions.

30:00
But I think that a lot of people would sit with their parents in that same  type of conversation and they would be inclined to choose what they thought their parents wanted them to choose. Did you not have any of that? You were just like, I am an independent person and I can make these decisions. Or did you choose something because you thought this is probably what they want me to do? don't know. I never had this in life.

30:28
I was actually doing something because I thought that  my parents would be happy.  Of course,  it was always in the back of my head that if I do this,  my parents would be happier, but it doesn't mean that I cannot do it. It starts from everything. I didn't go into racing because my father loved it. I went into racing because my father loved it, but when he took me there, I loved it. I stopped the sport.

30:54
Of course, because they pinpointed these ideas and they said they were more towards me stopping the sport rather than continuing, but they weren't against it. And of course, there is some part that plays there, you're like, okay, well, my parents want me to do this. It's probably for the best.  They lived a longer life. They're more experienced. By the end of the day, of course, I could have continued. Nothing was stopping me. I could have said, okay, if I don't want to do single seaters anymore, I go into...

31:23
prototype cars or just  GT cars.  Nothing was stopping me. But at the end, guess,  it actually went into my mind what they said. They said,  you have more chances doing this.  Luckily, you're smart. You went to high school. You  haven't stopped school when you were racing. Most people did. You can still go into university. You can work by your own. You can start working.

31:52
for a paycheck, you can do something with us, you can start your own company. Like there's no limits there. Great. I don't think a lot of people have that.  I think you're lucky in that sense of that you grew up with the autonomy to make those decisions. think so many  people, I think you're in a unique bucket.  I think there are a lot of people. That's the funny part. I don't really realize that. That sometimes once people mention it, I'm like, well, yeah.

32:21
It's true that I'm lucky to have this. at the same time, don't see one of the reasons I also wanted to  join some podcast is to tell people that there is nothing stopping them from doing something. No, usually it's the person stopping themselves. Yeah, exactly.  So I guess  everybody can have that. But of course,

32:49
there's always factors that will contribute to you going in one direction or the other. In my case, of course, my parents helped me see the bigger picture. I was always focused on racing. I was like, oh, no, no, no, no. The other things are bad. I've dedicated so much time to it.  They're like, look, that's one way  in life. are different ways that you can go. Luckily, you have the opportunity to do that. You don't need to stick to one thing. And if you fail, there is nothing left for you to do.

33:19
So guess they did help me, but I guess it was still more of my own decision rather than my parents. Yeah. And it also kind of makes sense to me because you were in a sport that is  inherently dangerous, right? Like, and you have to take a lot of risks and you have to trust yourself on the decisions you make in real time, right? I would imagine when you, the way you take a  turn or whatever, you know, whatever it may be, you have to trust.

33:46
yourself and your decision making power in that moment. No one else is around you telling you necessarily what to do.  So I think it kind of makes sense that you naturally feel that that is just like, yeah, we can make our own decisions. We can do those things. But so many of us grew up in this protected way, in a sense, where we're bad things are bad, you know, like they're really scary and you can't do them, where you were already living this like scary decision making life. And so

34:16
To me, from an outsider's  perspective, it kind of makes total sense that you feel the way you do and you take action in the way you do because of, for 12 years, mean, from five years old, what do you remember before you were five? Not too much, right?  So since you can remember things, you were  taking chances and trusting your own instincts in those ways. So it makes sense from an outsider's perspective. Yeah.  But also, it's really funny because people don't realize that

34:46
I don't know how to put it, but people don't realize exactly this, that at the end of the day, course, everybody comes from a different journey. Like, of course, for me, now it's easy to say, just make your decisions by your own. Nothing bad will happen. Of course, I mean, if you make a decision to go out at night into a street that you don't know and something bad happens to you, well, that's not a very smart decision. What I mean is, like, if you have

35:14
one decision to go one way or the other, do it yourself and  actually be accountable for it. And that's the way you will learn most.  was accountable for leaving racing and even of course, now I say, okay, yes, I do miss it, but I see how much more perspective I have in other things. I don't know, I guess  it's a matter of wanting, so wanting to do something by yourself and it's a matter of discipline.

35:44
So discipline, as I said, does not mean  doing things when you're motivated. And that's really important because  discipline means that no matter if you're motivated or it's raining outside, you're still doing it and you're still trying to make something happen. That's, think, will or I think that will lead to success in one way or another. Because also success can be very subjective if you know.

36:11
if you make a decision yourself and  you have never done it before, well, that's success. It's also very important to celebrate small things  in life,  which usually people don't do. Well, I think your life also was a bunch of proven reps after another.  I feel like so  many humans, think we need to see that we can be successful when we take chances. Like we took a new chance and...

36:39
It didn't go terribly. So like, maybe we'll do it again.  And like your life was that because you were taking these chances every time you raced and things worked out or they didn't and you learned something and then you took another chance and it worked out or didn't, you know, like, and you had all these reps over so many years. And I think that's kind of what you're what you're what you say  related to discipline is like, you just got to do it and you just keep putting in the reps and then it just becomes like the second nature  aspect of your life in which

37:08
You're like, oh, that's new.  Seems a little scary. I'll try it.  Whereas before, maybe you're like, I've never done anything scary. Why would I even try that? So I think there's something to be said about being able to  truly believe that you're safe in whatever decision you make. Not literally safe, but like you can find success. Of course. Yeah. No, I mean, it's also like, it's very hard to put it like,

37:38
to people,  to actually tell to people, don't be scared,  nothing bad will happen, you won't. That just makes them more scared.  But I mean, you cannot tell a person,  go try this, you won't die. Well, of course, maybe you don't die, but maybe you lose your money and then you cannot live or something. But also, I think even though I don't particularly like the way racing is done now,  especially how it's organized, I still think that the sport itself,

38:08
if we look at just just as a sport, it's like really elegant because it mirrors perfectly  the life, like not the life, but it mirrors perfectly like anyone's life. Because as you said,  I was  always making decisions. And in my case, when I was racing, it was, well, do I take this corner? You know, do I break like five meters later and

38:37
There is the risk that I might go into the wall. And that's a big risk because  if I do go into the wall, first of all, I break the car.  So my sponsor has to pay more money  or  I get hurt. And that's a very big risk because then I essentially cannot race. My team might cancel the contract if I cannot recover in time for a few rounds or so. So there is always  risk.

39:06
It's about embracing it. Education costs money. Whatever education, I'm not talking about university or high school or whatever. I'm talking about education costs something and that risk,  it's what it costs. So if I learn how to take a corner faster, the risk I'm paying is that, of course, I destroy the car and essentially somebody has to pay for it. The risk you take in life when you're doing business is...

39:35
Well, if I screw this up, then I might not make any money. But that's the time you learn most. That's the thing my friend used to say, the one who crashed. Delano always used to say, I love winning, but I don't learn from winning as much as I do from losing. And it's true. Everybody is scared of failure, also because I guess from a very young age, we are told in school, oh, if you fail your exam,

40:04
It's very bad, you you won't make it in life. And it's not true. Like if you fail and you keep failing, that's where the trouble starts. If you just fail once and you say, okay, let me do something different. Like let me try to practice this way, or let me try to do this. That's where the growth comes. And that's where the beautiful part, let's say comes because that's where you actually enhance your capabilities. Yeah. No, I agree. Do you think.

40:33
I mean, I know it's only been like a year or so removed, right? About a year or so. Do you feel different or do you feel like the same person but you're on a different path?  Or do you approach life differently now that you're not in that sport day in, day out? To be honest, I feel differently every three months. Like every  quarter of the year I learn as if like so much that I think, wow, three months ago I didn't know this. How stupid was  I?

41:02
And  it's not stupid, it's just like, you know, it's just steps that they make. But to answer your question, like a year ago, I have a very funny, let's say anecdote when I was driving to Syracuse with my father. So we made it a road trip and we took my car and we drove up to Syracuse, 22 hour road trip.  But when we were talking about starting some business.

41:27
I was the person that was scared of failure. I was like, dad,  if  I cannot do this now, then that's a problem because I don't  know how to do anything else. And he was like,  how can you say that? You're  very young. You can learn really quick, just a few. If you  want it and you just sit down and do it, well, then. And mean, he was right, of course, because

41:54
I was really scared into getting into real estate and all it  took was like half a year for me to speak to people from the industry, interact with people, read articles.  don't Just do the  usual like field work, go out to speak to people, go out to visit properties, start  speaking to contractors. And after six months, I can talk to people that are 30, 40, 50 years older than me. It's just about...

42:24
like wanting it. So I feel totally different from a year ago. Now I don't really care what you put on my table. If it's a project  about creating a new chat GPT, I would say let's do it. It'll take time. I know that. But I'm not scared to start something new, and I'm not scared to start the whole learning process again. So yeah, I don't know.  A lot has changed over a year. Like, I don't think that's also.

42:54
a normal, let's say, distribution of how things like how fast things move for me. That's definitely also,  guess, it cannot be that healthy to move that quick through life.  It just seems like maybe and this is again assuming you have more time now that you're not  racing all the time, you have more time to pour into yourself and your interests and those kind of things. So I think if we compare those

43:23
It makes sense while you're absorbing so much and so much quicker. I'm sure it'll slow down at some point. That might be a little overwhelming three years from now when you're totally different person. But I think it makes sense to me when you're shifting gears and now you're  able to absorb even more because you just have naturally more time to do it. Yeah. No, I guess you're right.  But it's just also like change in perspective. know, this podcast is called The Life Shift. It's like...

43:53
really, really interesting to see where that life shift is. Because for me, of course, it was stopping racing after tragic events happened and a lot was  related with political reasons. And just, it was a hard time to be like, don't get me wrong. It wasn't  after you spent 12 years in something, a sport you used to love to just stop.

44:18
one day it's really hard, it's depressing, it  will take some time of grieving, let's say. But of course, as you said, what's very important is to be open to new experiences and when they come, to be that sponge.  I cannot emphasize it enough. When you are that sponge, it's crazy how much our brain, the human brain, can absorb.

44:48
I'm not just talking about, you know, absorbed that it goes through one ear and then goes out to the other and you don't remember the next day. It's crazy how much knowledge you can get into here in such short period of time. Like you think about it, there is no other animal on the planet that can do that. We are the only ones that can do it. it's all about wanting to do it. It's all about going out there, speaking to older people. I have a friend of mine who...

45:17
who always says, I love older people because I can learn so much from them that the conversation is just so interesting. Like  I don't even need to say anything. They will just tell me their whole story and I will  have 10 IQ more than  before I went into dinner. I think there's also something to be said of like finding the things that interest you because I think it's a lot easier to absorb a lot of information if that is of interest  of your, like if that's an interest of yours or.

45:45
something you want to move in. I'm not going to be a sponge if someone's talking to me about chemistry, because I don't care. It's not going to fall on my head. But if I found something that I'm super passionate about, it's a lot easier to retain that information in a much shorter amount of time.  Sure, could I learn about chemistry? Yes. Do I want to?  No. So it's going to be a lot harder for that to stick around. When you look back at your journey, I think I know the answer to this. But when you look back at your journey, would you do anything

46:15
differently  or did this play out in the way that you think is most appropriate for you? Yes, I'd be that sponge again.  When I was younger,  like, I always said no, I didn't say no. I just, as you said, didn't listen to people. It's like, oh yeah, I know better than you. Oh yeah. And even though they were people  older than me actually trying to help me, even though they weren't racing drivers, I never actually listened. That's one thing.

46:44
Yeah, it's crazy. You were kind of like in your own lane. No pun intended. That's the thing I regret most, I guess. Even though I could have still made it to professional level. Yeah, but it's not even about five. Also, if we look at it recently, even at 15, I was the same kid that just said no to other people and just, oh, yeah, yeah. OK, thank you very much. I know what I'm doing.

47:13
That's what I regret most. And it's  it's so frustrating because even though I could have, even with this mistake, I could have still continued on racing. It's just crazy to think how much further I would have been already. Maybe, or you wouldn't have liked it and you would have continued, you know, like all sorts of things could have happened. You could have been listening and then realized at seven that you didn't want to race. then you went, like, who knows where life would take us. yeah, also.

47:41
Also, you also you're you were a kid and then and the nice thing is that that you've come to this realization a lot earlier than most people,  at least most people in America will come to. Right. Like, I feel like when I really started leaning into the things that I wanted to do, that I was passionate about, even still, I struggle with it. But it was I was like in my 30s. So like you have decades  on me  of all the things that you can learn and move through.

48:10
I can't imagine a younger, like a young kid coming to you when you're 40, 50 years old and all the information that you can impart on them because you started and you learned this lesson so early. Like  I'm sure you don't even want to think about that far from now, but like you're going to be  the person that wants, you know, like the person that wants to be a sponge, you're going to be that person they go to because of all the things you're doing now. So good on you for learning that early.

48:39
Don't have those regrets. I think your path, I think all those decisions brought you to this version of you, in my opinion. Yeah,  of course. No, I mean, like, of course, it's, everybody has their own life and everybody will live their own life.  But you always look back, which  technically you shouldn't, but, you know, it's a human emotion and  you cannot do, like, you can't do anything about it.

49:07
And you always think, well, in the hypothetical scenario that I did this, then  I would have become this or... So it's always like, you have to control it a bit. It always comes back to you and it's always, you realize the mistakes you did and you were like, oh, I was so dumb. But those mistakes eventually led to who you are today.  What if, do you think you would tell like the 15 year old version of you that was like...

49:36
getting into  the racing at that level, anything you right now would say to him about like what's coming next? Yeah, I would say no,  I would say  if I if I wanted to for that 15 year old to continue racing, I would say start speaking to more people and  shut up when  older people are telling you something.  Yeah, I mean, maybe I mean, maybe had you had you done that, maybe you'd

50:04
you'd be one of the ones that didn't it didn't feel like everything could go away in the next minute. I don't know who knows but then you can't play this game because every decision we make would bring us down a different path. Right. Yeah. No I just I'm just saying it's like that you know those kids books where they tell you if you choose this decision then go to that page.  So  yeah no  you can never choose your own adventure. Yep.  No I mean I think I think it's

50:34
It's a great story  of kind of all along building that faith in yourself and your decision making skills and knowing that even if you made the wrong decision, you probably could learn from it. And luckily you didn't have any major things in which that kind of stunted you in that way. But I think it's something that all of us  can listen to your story and go, yeah, we can make these.

51:02
decisions for ourselves and just like go for it. We just have to put in the reps. We have to be disciplined about it and like show up if it's something we really want to do or it's like nagging at us show up and do it and just keep doing it until you know, it feels right or you're in the right space. Would you agree? Yeah, definitely. But also  one of the things I would say is if people are scared to start making the reps,  the best thing you can do

51:30
is start as early as possible. The earlier you start... It's going to be hard no matter when you start, right? So you may as start now. No, it's going to be hard like whenever you start, but if you are 18, 15, 17, 20, know, the earlier you start, the less reason you have to worry. Essentially, you are still living with your parents. Like the worst that can happen, okay, you lose the money and...

51:56
But you learn so much from it. I cannot explain how much you will learn. That mistake won't happen twice. It's impossible. It's the small mistakes that keep happening twice because you are like,  oh, yeah, it's small mistake. I don't When I was cooking the eggs, I smashed them wrong, and one of them went onto the floor. That's OK. You won't learn anything from that. The bigger the mistake, the more it  will just play like it's

52:24
It will play with your mind and just say, oh, what did I do wrong? It will just keep your brain analyzing and so on. It's like compound interest. It's essentially like when you put money in the bank and it  gets bigger and it grows on itself. It's the same thing kind of with our with our minds. No, I think it's it's definitely food for thought. think people listening to this episode, I hope you're out there and being like,  that was on my list. I'm just going to start it because  it's never too early and there's always a too late, you know, like

52:54
just get going and start on it.  If people want to like connect with you or learn about what you're doing or your business or just tell you their story, like what's the best way to find you? Where are you hanging out these days? Not literally, not like  the cafe next corner.  No, no, I'm most active right now on LinkedIn. Never liked LinkedIn when I was racing. I don't know. I love it now. I guess it's also part of, you know, this maturing and growing up. So always like I'm always

53:23
I'm also the type of person that will  never leave a person ignored. If somebody writes to me, won't just say, oh, yeah,  I'm too good for them.  No, nobody is too good for that. I'll always write an answer. Even if it's short or I'm busy, I'll say, look, do this or do that or  just give me a minute. I'll respond to you a bit later. So guess LinkedIn is the easiest also.  LinkedIn, you don't have to know my email. You just need to know my profile, and then you just message or whatever.

53:53
I think it's, right now, think it's wonderful. I never liked it, but  now it's wonderful to actually network because also it's done for that. Nobody will judge you for writing a text. The worst that they can do is not reply, which they shouldn't, but  I mean, everybody takes their own decisions and makes their own decisions. Yeah. No, we'll put that,  link to LinkedIn.

54:19
in the show notes so people can find that connect with you. encourage them to do that or at least follow you and see what's going on in your world and  follow your journey through the next three years of school. And then who knows what comes after that. But I'm sure you'll be doing stuff in the in-between with your business and whatnot. So  thank you for sharing who you are and what you're doing. think there's something to be said about us older folk learning from younger folk like you. So thank you for sharing your story in this way. No, thank you for inviting me.

54:48
It really means a lot also to be able to share. also like, I don't know, it just, you know, giving back to the world, I guess. Well, you're doing it. I mean, one podcast at a time, you can do that. But also just in your general world, talking to people, I think that's such a good practice that some of us are not as, not myself, but a lot of people are not used to just talking to anyone about things and learning from each other.

55:17
Our stories have so much power and we don't really realize it. And also the parts of our story that we think are the most powerful might not be the things that people resonate with. They might resonate with the little tiniest thing you said. And so I think there's a great practice that you're putting into the world by just talking to people and not just surrounding yourself with a bunch of your college friends or whatever it may be. It's important to learn from people from all walks of life.

55:46
and different age groups and whatnot. As we said, you never know someone's story. So there is always something to learn. someone could be listening to this five years from now and learn something from your story. And here you are  five years from now, who knows what you'll be doing and why you'll be doing it.  So  there's such an impact no matter when someone hears your story. So again, thank you for that. Thank you, everyone, for listening to the LifeShift Podcast. It has been  a healing journey that I never knew I needed.

56:15
And so  with that, I'm going to say goodbye and I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Thanks again.

56:32
For more information, please visit  www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com