My name is Scott and this is my story…

I’ve always dreamed of making a difference but had no idea how to do it.

Actually, that’s not true. I had an idea. It was to be an author, speaker and coach. But I didn’t think I was good enough. Didn’t feel worthy.

I was shy as a kid. I stuttered horribly and spent years in speech therapy.

I sat in the back of the classroom and PRAYED that the teacher wouldn’t call on me to answer their question. Right or wrong, all I saw was my own inferiority to the other students.

To make matters worse, I had horrible acne. And not the once-in-a-while surface pimples that come and go. I had large, cystic nodules that left their mark (literally and figuratively) and shredded my self esteem.

I also grew up with an older brother that was an academic savant. Whether it was the ACT, SAT, GRE or a game of Trivial Pursuit, he excelled. For as long as I can remember, people raved about how smart and how “gifted” he was.

I love my brother more than anything but I decided early on that I needed an outlet to compensate for these deficiencies. That outlet happened to be…

Sports.

And I did fairly well. We won a state championship in football and I went to five straight state golf tournaments (the only one in my high school’s history to do that).

As much as I love the camaraderie of football; I appreciated the solitude and the individual responsibility of golf. Win or lose, it was on ME.

I went on to college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (go Badgers!). I tried out for the golf team two years in a row but didn’t make it. I wasn’t ready mentally and, point blank, I wasn’t Big Ten material.

So, I drank. A lot. I used to joke that my four years at Wisconsin could be summarized as “blacking out a bunch of times and waking up with a degree.” It was a joke…but when you come from a long lineage of alcoholics, it’s more fact than fiction.

Our lives are filled with defining moments, and one thing I DO remember about my time at Wisconsin was at the end of my junior year. I was getting ready to take a notoriously tough 5-credit class required for all Psychology majors, Experimental Psychology.

The class was 8 weeks and would require the majority of my time and energy that summer (time and energy that I would normally spend partying).

I recall waking up before the first class had started and thinking:

"Scott, you’re paying a lot of money to get C’s. You’re paying a lot of money to be AVERAGE. Can’t you do better than that? Aren’t you capable of more?"

That lit a fire in me. I tried harder in that class than I ever had before. Partying got replaced with studying. In the end, I got an AB in Experimental Psychology.

I still consider it the highest grade I’ve ever gotten in my life.

I always knew I was an above-average athlete but I had a newfound confidence that, if I applied myself, I could also Outperform academically.

This led me to Georgia Southern, where I graduated with a 3.83 GPA and a Master’s Degree in Sport Psychology. I also wrote my first book the summer after my first year, The Dynamics of Modern Golf: A Comprehensive Guide to Peak Performance, that served a continuing education resource for sport & health professionals across the country.

I don’t say any of these things to puff out my chest and blow my own horn. I suffer from the same insecurities, worries, fears and judgments as anyone.

But if I can find a way to overcome them, so can you.

And THAT brings us to my mission - to help people Outperform personally, professionally and/or athletically, so they fall asleep at night knowing they’re making the most of their precious days on this planet.

Life is a roller coaster, not a train ride, and mine has certainly had its fair share of peaks and valleys. But through these times I've learned from others AND learned from myself. I truly believe that we're capable of much more than we realize, and if we're willing to step up and courageously demand more from ourselves, the sky is the limit.

Your time is now. You’ve got this.

Scott Welle is a #1 international best selling author, speaker and founder of Outperform The Norm, a leading program for business leaders and athletes looking raise their game and perform at the highest level.

Scott has worked with professional athletes (NFL, MLB, PGA Tour), elite level triathletes, CEOs, stay-at-home moms, and everyday heroes who all had one common goal – to improve and to be better today than they were yesterday.

Scott’s nine best selling books, articles, videos, podcasts and online programs inspire hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. He has a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology and is an adjunct professor at St. Olaf University. He regularly speaks and consults with top performing executives, sales professionals and entrepreneurs, as well as elite athletes, all with one common goal: to OUTPERFORM.

Scott enjoys pushing his own physical and mental limits, completing five Ironman triathlons, 29 marathons and a 100-mile ultra marathon run. He is very close with his brother, Jason. Together they “plod” at least one marathon together each year, laughing the whole way.

He serves others by showing them how to tap into the same mindset of challenging their self-limiting beliefs and aspiring to be their best everyday.

As Scott says:

"When I was young, I was held back in swimming lessons, I didn't own a bike and I only ran if someone was chasing me."

Yet, now he enjoys testing himself and pushing his body, and mind, through extreme endurance sports, believing these things are a powerful metaphor for life. He has completed five Ironman triathlons and 29 marathons and a 100-mile ultramarathon run through the hills of southeast Wisconsin. He is also very close with his brother, Jason, who lives in Rome, Italy. Together, they “plod” at least one marathon a year…laughing the whole way.