2020 was meant to be the year of Von Miller. Denver’s all-time sack leader canceled a trip to Australia to ensure just that. Resultantly, missing out on daily Outback Steakhouse and kangaroo riding. Yet injury derailed his season — and for a period — his mindset.

Von based himself in San Francisco completing a grueling offseason before tragedy struck. All seemed in place for 58 to return to his best, terrifying the NFL quarterbacks. However, a season-ending ankle injury a week before their opening game vs. Tennessee ruined his plans.

There were plenty of other bumps along the road too, so how does such a public figure deal with the expectation of the world on top of their own internal demands? How does a world-class athlete work on themselves outside of the weight room? Wonder no more, Von’s got you. 

“For me, all the time we had with the quarantine, I just invested all of that time back into myself. I just did a lot of mental work, on positive and negative energy,” Von said when asked about his learnings from 2020.

“I did just a lot of self-identity finding, I tried to find out what’s really essential and then eliminate the rest. I just really wanted to just minimize my priorities and focus on them with full speed ahead and really just focusing on what really matters to me and pouring all of my time into that.

“As humans you are presented with things daily that mess with your emotions, or your anger, or your fear. And for me, I just wanted to identify what really matters and then focus on that, and the emotions that come with that, instead of running from them, I just identify them. If I’m angry, why am I angry? If I’m afraid, why am I afraid? And I just kind of unpack that. 

“If I’m anxious about something, you know instead of just saying man I’m not anxious, you know and just try and push through that, you know I just identify why am I anxious? Where is this coming from? And then once you really unpack that and get down to the base value of it, it’s just all made up in your head, you know? It’s things that the human mind puts there to create all these emotions.”

Offseason isn’t just about the body work, Miller invested lengthy time into his mental approach, which paid off handsomely after his devastating ankle injury. 

“I did a lot of work identifying what’s what and I think it worked great for me because whenever I dislocated my ankle, that’s all I really had. You know, those first two days, I’m not going to say like I was positive right away, those first two days man, I had to go through the process, the grieving process and then shortly after that, it was the acceptance of this is what it is, this is what has been presented to me, how do I make the best out of it? 

“The best was, for me, identifying and focusing on being able to come back fast, come back this season. That’s where I put all my energy and all my mind, all of my focus on that, and that’s what keeps me motivated and that’s what keeps me going everyday.”

If you’re not ready to run through a brick wall, then I can’t help you. 

To discover who Von Miller believes is the GOAT and more, you know what to do.