Scott Tennant
Hi, everyone, and welcome to our very first influential heroes. This is my friend Siri Lindley. I met her at my very first UPW with Tony Robbins, which is Unleash Your Power Within. And wow, did I really learn what it was like to unleash the power within! Siri, I think is a prime example of what that is. I’ve known her for over a year and it never ceases to surprise me how wonderful she is and what she stands for. If you don’t mind, would you introduce yourself to those that don’t know you yet?
Siri Lindley
Well, Scott, first of all, I’m so thrilled to be here with you today. I just think you were such a beautiful soul. From the day I met you, I knew that you were an important part of our lives. My name is Siri Lindley, I’m not great at talking about myself, I have to warn you Scott, that I’m not good!
I suppose my claim to fame is, when I was 23, I dreamed of becoming the world champion triathlete, but I didn’t know how to swim. But I found a way eight years later to make that happen. And I became a two-time world champion, two time World Cup champion, and I retired at number one in the world, and started coaching. And I’ve coached multiple athletes to World Championship crowns and Olympic medals, which has been just the ultimate most beautiful privilege. I am the author, thank you, you just reminded me of I’m an author of a book called Surfacing: From the Depths of Self Doubt To Winning Big and Living Fearlessly. And that was just incredible to write as a first half of my story, because my story has dramatically changed since then. So I’m actually just starting to write my second book.
But I’m a speaker, international speaker, I thank the amazing Tony Robbins, who’s been my ultimate mentor since I was 20. I run a first-course rescue and nonprofit with my amazing wife, Rebecca Key, we rescue horses from slaughter, and these horses in turn rescue humans. And I’m here today feeling incredibly blessed to have this miracle of life. Because a year, just over a year ago, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. And it wasn’t looking great for me. But I made the decision that I was going to survive and triumph and I’m here to make cancer-free and thriving, and so deeply blessed to be here today with you, Scott, to celebrate every moment of this incredible gift of life.
Scott Tennant
Thank you so much. Because, you know, the one thing I noticed is, you know, both stories in your life are so amazing about how, you know, you’re from one place in the became a hero and a teacher, and then had to reset, and then find that in yourself again, and recreate and thrive again and have another story. And you know, it’s just amazing. So, you know, does it feel different the second time you’ve had to buckle in?
Siri Lindley
It felt different because it made perfect sense to me why I’ve had the experiences I’ve had in my entire life. Every experience that I had prepared me for the greatest battle with leukemia, and made sense of my entire life. Because the courage and the bravery that I had built up through the years, and the belief in myself, I have wired me to believe the impossible dream. But finding the way in eight years to make it possible. All those things that resilience, that belief, that courage, and that bravery is exactly what I needed to triumph over leukemia.
Scott Tennant
Wow. And so when you take that to your life coaching, so are you working with just athletes or is it you know, really anybody that you bring that gift to?
Siri Lindley
My big thing now is you know, helping people take their lives to all new levels. I think a lot of people think that in life, you can only have one thing going well, like your career is going well, then your relationship is going like crap. If your career is going great, then your health is bad. But I’m a believer that we can have it all. We can live life to the fullest in every single area of our lives when we have the right mindset, when we know how to be the master of our emotions, and the master of our meaning. And so I’m really there to help people live their best lives, overcome their fear, overcome their anxieties and their worries, and it’s happening to their utmost potential.
I’m still coaching athletes at the highest level, and that will always be just such a huge passion for me. Life Coaching has been something that surprisingly, has really kind of ignited my soul, because I feel the impact that I can have on not just athletes, treating humans with such a blessing and a gift to have people trusting and believing in me and coming me some kind of support.
Scott Tennant
Well, you know, the one thing that really hit me about, you know, when I first heard your story was that you didn’t even know how to swim. And you said it again, earlier. You know, that was amazing that, you know, when you had that realization that you’re like, that’s not gonna stop me. And then, you know, reading your book, and when, when you kept thinking, you know, this is done, and then that was only half of the day, the first day, and then again, you push through and how you can bring that, you know, to everything I’ve seen you do.
Siri Lindley
And, you know, I always say to people, how can we ever know what we’re truly capable of if we’re not trying to do things that we don’t think that we can do, we’re not trying to do things that seem impossible, you have to get out of your comfort zone and take risks. And at least what I discovered is, I know, even every human being is so much more powerful than you could ever imagine. But the only way you figure that out is if you go beyond what you think you can every single day. And that’s what led me to my success. I want you to know, you know, I failed over and over again, on that path. Because I was terrible. I didn’t know how to swim. And I was terrible in the sport, but it made me feel so alive. And for me at that time in my life, it was a perfect vehicle through which I could find myself and discover who I am and discover a worthiness from within what I hadn’t had before.
I had a love for myself that I didn’t have before. Having this deep emotional reason why I had to do this for me. And that kept me going. And I would fail, when I would fall short, like it was enough of a pull for me where I never ever gave up. And my mantra became I am either winning or I’m learning. There’s no such thing as failure. Because we as humans are not willing to fail, we’re actually not willing to succeed. You have to be willing to fail because that’s how we learn. That’s how we grow. And that’s how we ultimately make the progress necessary to succeed. So those are the biggest factors. I think having that deep reason why this mattered so much. And also understanding that because I started not knowing anything that I was going to come up against struggle was gonna be my major moments of learning and growth. But ultimately, if I never gave up would take me to where I wanted to go.
Scott Tennant
Wow, wow. Well you know that brings me to, you know, the Belief Ranch and Rescue where, you know, that was another piece that I saw that is incredibly amazing about your career and who you are. And, you know, with your beautiful wife Beck, you know, to see how you tackle that and to, you know, bring the love of those beautiful animals.
Siri Lindley
They have been the ultimate gift in both of our lives. And the thing is, I rescued my first horse Savannah, you can see over my shoulder here. She’s a beast and she’s beautiful and amazing, but I rescued her in 2017 and this horse changed my life. Like I had more self-development in that first three months with her than I had in a lifetime. And one day I just thought what am I rescuing her? Why did I have to rescue her? And I got online and I googled “why would I need to rescue a horse”, and this video came up… to this day I can’t find this video, it was a brutal and horrific video, and close your ears if you don’t want to hear this, but horses being pulled up on a pulley upside down and shot multiple times and dismembered while they were still alive. And I was in lots of tears, I fell to the ground and friends were walking in knowing that they were next. When I started wailing and my wife came running up the stairs, like someone had died. And she said, “What’s wrong?” I pointed at the screen. And she watched it. And she started crying too, we looked at each other. And we knew that our lives will never be the same again because we had to do something, like this cannot go on. So we developed Believe Ranch and Rescue. And that was four years ago, since then we’ve rescued 141 horses from slaughter. And the beautiful thing is that these animals are great healers, very powerful.
Now, many of them are being adopted out to like therapy centers around the country. You run a program here at the rescue. And these horses have healed humans. They’re saving us and it’s such a privilege to be able to do this. I mean, I know when I was really really sick last year, my horse… she got me through, she’s a huge part of it… such incredible animals! There’s research now on how they help people with PTSD, and trauma, sex, sexual trauma or abuse, or disabilities. They are healing humans and in a beautiful, powerful way. Now we are playing a huge part in that and this was meant to be. I had nothing to do with horses before rescuing Savannah, but boy did my life change, you know, when that girl came into my life.
So now we actually created a second non-profit, Horses in our Hands, because we thought, you know, every time we go save like five, and we go to pick them up, and they’ll be this truck loaded with 30 horses heading off slaughter and it was just devastating. It’s like you couldn’t really celebrate that we saving five knowing that 30 others were being sent off for this. Horses in our Hands is our 501c4. Which is lobbying in DC to get the rainforest water bill passed, it’s been 20 years. It’s a 93% of Americans believe that horses should not be slaughtered. So we’re out there raising awareness. We have a commercial that’s on in 2 million homes, we’ve got a show that’s going to be on Dennis Quaid’s Viewpoint. And this year, due to the awareness that we’ve been able to raise, instead of 65,000 horses going to slaughter last year, it’s now only 6,000 or something like that. So we have dramatically reduced the numbers, raising awareness that when you take your horse to an auction, 98% of them are being bought by kill buyers. And for me feel really proud of what we’ve done. But Scott, we will not rest until the bill is passed. And we’re hoping that this year is going to be our year. But thank you for your incredible support. We couldn’t have done this without people like you who have supported us and believed in us and helped make this happen. And you are one of our true heroes and the horses’ heroes and the human’s heroes, and I don’t even know how to thank you, you’ve been just a huge part of what we’ve been able to accomplish. So thank you so much.
Scott Tennant
You know, I had never really met a horse. And so, you know, I made arrangements to go do that. And instead of having somebody suit them up for me to ride them, I actually wanted just to meet the horse. And it was amazing, like what you said is just there in their presence, you know, made everything quiet and beautiful and walked away and I said, “it’s very quiet”. Just look in those big brown eyes and, you know, I learned that from you too for that. And, you know, I think you even noticed that we have I think 17 pictures or items of horses in our home. Who knew that it meant that much, you just had to see something you hadn’t seen. You know, that was some coaching that I learned from you. I could see what that attraction was to that beautiful animal. And so thank you, that was another gift that you gave me.
Siri Lindley
Well, I hope that your next trip here, and I’ll tell you just a little story, you know, I had been in the hospital for over a month, I was 25 pounds lighter than I am today. And I was weak, really sick. But I came home and I told my wife, I want to ride Savannah. And she said, “You’re not riding in Savannah, no way, she’s too fast & strong!” And I said, “Trust me, it’s gonna be okay”. And I got on Savannah. And this horse that typically you get on her and she just goes, she just took these tiny little steps, she didn’t try to reach down. And every week, as I got a little bit stronger, her steps started getting bigger. And then one day, she just got on her and she starts, like, trotting away. And I’m like, “Whoa, Savannah!” And then I thought about it. It’s her way of saying, “Mom, you’re good, now you’re healthy, you’re strong enough to not worry anymore, I got you.” And she literally led the way with my recovery, kind of showing what I was capable of and what I wasn’t. And having that guidance was incredibly powerful. Because it’s a scary time, what can you do and what can’t you do? She literally guided me through the process, it was so beautiful and so powerful.
Scott Tennant
Well, you know, Siri, you know, I hope everybody gets your book. Because, you know, it’s powerful to know the story. And, you know, I hope people get a chance to learn more from you. Because, you know, you’re an amazing soul. And you know, I love you. I knew the minute I saw you on stage, the first thing I said is, I have to know her. Interesting thing was that I was on the front row, and you came down, and you stopped and gave me a hug. And I said, wow, if that’s not manifesting! Because you’re just going on the stage in front of I think 13 or 14,000 people. And you know, the place went nuts. It was just amazing.
Siri Lindley
Scott, I thank you. And I remember that moment. So I remember that moment. And I also remember the moment I was in Las Vegas business mastery. And like I said, when I gave you a hug on that day, I just knew you were gonna be a forever friend. And there’s just something so beautiful about you as a human being. And I feel so deeply blessed the universe, or God or whatever you believe in, brought us together, because I know this is just the beginning of our lives being shared on this path. And you mean so much. Thank you for your kind words, they fill my heart, and I’m just so grateful for you.
Scott Tennant
Thank you, thank you so much. So, you know, thank you for being my inaugural person on my show. And I so appreciate it.
Siri Lindley
Thank you. I feel so honored and blessed to be your first. I know, you’re gonna have an incredible run here with so many amazing guests. And somebody could interview you on this too. You might need a coach that can interview you because you absolutely would be the perfect guest for this.
Scott Tennant
Oh, thank you so much. I want everybody to look up your book and please everybody, go check out Believe Ranch and Rescue, because it’s a wonderful place.
