How To Go From Rock Bottom To The Olympics

In prison, Tony Hoffman was at rock-bottom. 

The BMX racer has been considered a breakout athlete and was destined for stardom, but substance abuse in his senior year of high school led to addiction, homelessness, crime, and eventually incarceration.

While serving a sentence for a drug-related robbery, Hoffman realized he had entered a “door” with only two exits: death or changing everything about his life. He chose the latter. It was a step towards personal accountability: the act of taking responsibility for his actions and their consequences.

He was now accountable to himself. He took responsibility for his addiction and committed to staying sober. Then he set four goals:

1. Race BMX professionally.

2. Go to the Olympics.

3. Start a nonprofit that helps kids take responsibility for their choices.

4. Become a professional mental health and substance abuse speaker.

In the years since his release from prison in 2008, he has achieved all four. Today, he leads The Freewheel Project, a nonprofit that uses BMX camps to teach kids how to make healthy choices. For Hoffman, who is now 17 years sober, becoming accountable to himself turned his darkest moments into a life of purpose.

At its core, accountability is about recognizing our internal power to own up to our past and shape our future. As EVRYMAN certified facilitator Ettore Toppi says, “accountability is more than just acknowledging our actions; it involves owning up to them, learning from them, and actively taking steps to rectify or improve the situation. It's about recognizing the power we hold in shaping our own lives and the world around us.”

In what areas of your life are you avoiding taking responsibility? How might holding yourself accountable in these areas lead to positive changes? Consider taking one step this week to hold yourself accountable and take responsibility.

Insights

Where can men go to become better men? The New York Times profiled a three-day retreat for men in the Catskills where participants re-explored their masculinity by opening up and sharing their traumas. The goal: become stronger, kinder, and more purposeful versions of themselves. The New York Times (15 minutes)

How to raise ‘90’s kids. In an age of smartphones and anxious parents, there is a growing movement amongst influencers to raise ‘90’s kids: the idea that the young lives of yesterday’s children were more fruitful—more wondrous, spontaneous, off-grid, independent, and outdoors. InsideHook (4 minutes)

How to release co-dependent patterns in your relationships. Dan Doty, one of the co-founders of EVRYMAN who has since launched Fatherhood Unlocked, hosts a podcast about fatherhood. The most recent episode features Britta Bushnell, a birth educator, on the transformation of expecting dads when they have a child. Fatherhood Unlocked Podcast (68 minutes)

Recording on trauma healing. Listen to an EVRYMAN Live recording with Peter Levine where he explored trauma healing, somatic practices, and insights from his latest book, An Autobiography of Trauma: A Healing Journey. EVRYMAN (67 minutes).

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