Some Say This Mindset Makes You Weak — But This Three-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Says It Makes You ‘Lethal’

If you are seeking inspiration that comes straight at your face like a 60-mph spiked volleyball, you’re in the right place. This week on How Success Happens, I spoke with three-time Olympic gold medalist and beach volleyball legend Kerri Walsh Jennings, who spelled out what it really takes to perform when everything is on the line, tossing around a few f-bombs along the way. 

Over five Olympic Games, Kerri won three consecutive gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012) alongside partner Misty May-Treanor and a bronze in 2016 with April Ross. She also holds the all-time record for most career victories in professional beach volleyball with 135 wins. 

To gather this collection of medals and Ws, Kerri told me she had to master something just as important as agility and strength: the mental game of high performance under pressure. Now she’s channeling that championship mindset into entrepreneurship as part of the ownership group that is bringing a new Major League Volleyball franchise to Northern California and founding the p1440 volleyball training platform and Hero Beach Volley, a community-driven tournament series. 

Listen to our conversation here and read on for Kerri’s insights that’ll help you serve up your own success in three, two, one…

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Three Key Insights

1. The Art of Outlasting the Hard Moments

Success isn’t about avoiding adversity—it’s about deciding you’re going to outlast it. Kerri shared a powerful example from the 2012 London Olympics semi-finals when she and Misty were “getting destroyed” by China, down 14-7 in a game that only goes to 21. “I had this distinct moment of realizing, they’re not comfortable — like they’re kicking our ass, but they don’t really believe it a hundred percent they can beat us,” Kerri told me. “We outlasted them because we came together. And the teams that can do that, the people who can do that, they win more often because they know they’re never out of it.” Whether you’re an entrepreneur facing a business setback or dealing with any challenge, excellence comes down to training yourself—Monday through Friday, in practice and in life—to respond with calm conviction when the wheels fall off.

Takeaway: When facing your toughest moments, your job is simply to outlast them with a calm heart, knowing that adversity is part of playing at the highest level.

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2. Self-Love as a Superpower, Not a Weakness

For years, Kerri believed her harsh inner critic was the key to her excellence. It worked—until it didn’t. “I’ve lived the life of having this inner critic who carried shame and who was so hypercritical that it made me excellent, but it also made me miserable, and it shrunk me at some point,” she explained. “My fear of failure served me really well for a very long time until it didn’t.” Now she’s teaching young athletes—and herself—a different approach. “If being hard on yourself and having a really harsh inner critic worked, I’d encourage it, but it doesn’t. So let’s create other tools in your toolkit where you can have self-love as a superpower, and the love and the grace you have for yourself can make you a killer. It doesn’t soften you, it makes you more lethal.”

Takeaway: Replace your harsh inner critic with self-compassion—it won’t make you soft, it will make you stronger and more sustainable in your pursuit of excellence.

3. The 1,440-Minute Mindset

Kerri’s company p1440 gets its name from a revelation she had in marriage counseling: there are only 1,440 minutes in every day. “If you’re not living in the moment, if you’re wasting those minutes, then it’s gonna feel like a life wasted,” she told me. “And there’s gonna be anxiety and sadness and disconnection between your purpose and your passion, your pursuit.” This philosophy helped her realize that success isn’t about the destination—it’s about living the journey well. “To me, success is living the journey in a way that, whether you win or lose, you’re proud. I gave it my all. I gave my heart. I was willing to be vulnerable. I didn’t give up when it was hard. That to me is success. No regrets.”

Takeaway: Success is measured not by outcomes but by how fully and purposefully you live each of your 1,440 daily minutes.

Two Great Ways to Learn More

1. Follow Kerri on Instagram and check out P1440 and Hero Beach Volley to get your game on.
2. Read this great advice for building resilience in life and business.

One Question to Ponder

Kerri talked about outlasting hard moments. How do you respond when the wheels fall off—do you come together with yourself and your team, or do you retreat to fight another day?

Send your answer to howsuccesshappens@entrepreneur.com and we’ll read select responses on a future episode of the show!

About How Success Happens

Each episode of How Success Happens shares the inspiring, entertaining, and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, the arts, and sports traveled on their way to becoming household names. It’s a reminder that behind every big-time career, there is a person who persisted in the face of self-doubt, failure, and anything else that got thrown in their way.