We recently connected with Zay Keaton and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Zay, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

The most influential quote that I live by is “This is the story that I will one day tell my children. The harder it is, the bigger the dragon, the more epic the story and, by consequence, the more epic the hero.” I’ve always been a huge superhero nerd and I’ve always been so grateful of the creation of Spiderman because of the impact that. the thought of superheroes have. Real or not, superheroes motivate and inspire people to strive to be better versions of themselves. Spiderman was a character who’s morals and faith were constantly tested, but because he was so firm in his belief that with great power comes great responsibility, he was always able to fight those temptations to take the easy route and turn bad.

The reason that I say this is because it has inspired me to strive to be a better version of myself everyday and impact others in the same way. I am not a superhero by any means, but I have aimed to get as close as I can to that idea not just for myself but for those who don’t have that model of what a real life superhero could be. I want to inspire children and adults alike that anything is possible, not through getting bit by a radioactive spider, but through hard work and dedication.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When COVID hit, I was in college, on the track team, had two jobs, etc. and it all stopped suddenly. After a few months of isolation and unproductive madness, I found a unique gym tailored to Ninja Warrior and Spartan racing called the Wolf’s Den. I went in very confident, but i was awful at everything and that feeling honestly really sparked a fire in me. I felt like I had found a new home where I could start from nothing and become everything that I wanted to be. I signed up for a membership and started training 5 days a week, ultimately failing to complete over and over and over again for months on end until I felt like I mastered them and could do them in my sleep. Soon after, I was hired as a coach and I’ve been helping others of all ages and skill levels do the same for over 4 years now. I’ve learned to do and have accomplished some pretty incredible feats like running an ultramarathon with 60 obstacles, placing third in an obstacle course world championships race, being invited to play world professional tag in France with the world champions, and working for American Ninja Warrior testing out each obstacle that you’ve seen in recent seasons.

That being said, I’ve also had a few limiting injuries that have made me realize that I most likely will not be able to maintain this insane lifestyle forever, so I have since switched my focus on ventures that aren’t as physical. I have recently leaned more into coaching ninjas than doing it myself and have created a competitive ninja team with with over 20 athletes with ages spanning from 6-63, which I can proudly say is one of my greatest accomplishments, it feels like I’m training superheroes everyday. Outside of coaching and training, I have been becoming very well versed in videography and social media marketing and have created partnerships with companies to make exciting and engaging social media content for their brands which has started to fund my new aspirations outside of ninja like skydiving and traveling to captivating locations.

Again, just to reiterate, I started off my journey as a scrawny college kid who was in the middle of the pack when it came to physical competition. None of it happened overnight and it was very far from easy. I wasn’t born with the natural ability to do any of the things that I can do now. Everything was learned through trial and error over the span of just 4 years. Imagine how much you could accomplish if you dedicated yourself to your passion and weren’t scared of starting as a beginner or looking stupid. Everybody successful started from zero at one point and had to figure it out as they went.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One of the hardest things that I’ve ever done was running a Spartan ultramarathon with 60 obstacles. When the race was first mentioned, I didn’t even consider doing it. I do not and have not ever considered myself a runner. The most that I ran in track was about 40 meters before jumping into a pit of sand. Even with an overwhelming amount of peer pressure to sign up for the race, I stood firm in my decision not to do it. I even went as far as trying to talk others OUT of signing up. It was then that I really had to self reflect and figure out why I was so against this race. I realized that it was because I was afraid of it and truly did not believe that I could do it. There was a substantial amount of negative self belief that was triggered any time that it was brought up and, at the time when others who I deemed weaker or slower than me talked about signing up, I felt even worse because if they could do it, but I wouldn’t then what did that say about me as I’m trying to convince them to do otherwise? It was such a weak loser mentality.

Once I realized that fear and disbelief were the only reasons that I wouldn’t do it, I signed up immediately with only a few months to get ready. I not only signed up, I started to tell myself and others that I was going to finish first place. When I first started training for it, I couldn’t even run a mile straight on a treadmill, but my faith was completely unwavering. The closer that we got to the race date and the more runs I went on to train, the more I realized just how unprepared I was and that it was going to come down to how mentally strong I was capable of becoming.

When race day finally came, it was 90 degrees outside, I kept rolling my ankles because the terrain was way rougher than I was expecting, the incline was way longer and steeper than advertised, my knee was in unbearable pain after 5 miles, and I began having the worst cramping experience of my life after 8 miles. I could have let any one of these excuses stop me and justify me not finishing the race. Instead, I made the decision with every single step that I took that I was going to keep going. I ended up taking second place and finishing the 32 mile race with 60 obstacles in just under 7 hours. This i easily one of my proudest accomplishments and not because of the physical feat but because of my ability to force myself to get up at 5am and run 8+ miles a day when I knew how much I was going to hate it and how painful it was going to be mentally and physically, but I still did it and I do not regret a single second of it because I now know that I’m capable of amazing things when I put my all into it.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I distinctly remember watching a movie called “Bleed for This” which is a movie about a boxer who was told that he would never walk again after breaking his neck in a near-fatal car accident. He “simply” refused to accept that not only would he never walk again but that his boxing career was over. After making a full recovery and returning to boxing 13 months after the accident, he was interviewed and was asked “What’s the biggest lie that you were ever told?” His response was, “They say that it’s not that simple. That’s how they get you to give up. The truth is that it is that simple, that if you just do the thing that they tell you you can’t, then it’s done and you realize that it is that simple and that it always was.”

The biggest lesson that I had to learn is to stop overcomplicating my goals and use that as an excuse not to be successful. Many things can be solved very easily with very simple questions. If you want to get into shape, it’s as simple as starting to work out and eating healthier. If you want to learn a new skill, it’s as simple as looking up how to do it online. If you feel that you don’t have enough time in the day, it’s as simple as spending less time on other things that aren’t as important to you.

I realized the truth in that quote in my hardest moments when, instead of just focusing on making excuses, I started focusing on coming up with simple solutions. Overthinking leads to hesitation which leads to procrastination and then eventually you’ll look up and your whole life has gone by and now you feel that it’s too late to even start. I found that it is a lot easier mentally to accomplish a goal or complete a task when you simplify it all the way down to “just do it and then it’ll be done.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://zaykmedia.com
• Instagram: @zayslivin and @ninja.coach.zay and @teamwolfsden_ninjateam
• Other: Creative Portfolio: zaykeaton.com