How difficult would your day-to-day tasks become if you were missing just one of your arms? How about both? What if you were missing all four limbs? Now, after you surmount your everyday challenges regarding getting dressed, feeding yourself, typing etc (without prosthetics mind you), go compete in football, excel at wrestling, then go climb (check that, bear crawl) up a mountain, wait, make it Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Yeah, this is just SOME of what Kyle Maynard has accomplished.

Listen as I interview quadruple congenital amputee Kyle Maynard, who has conquered more physical-related challenges and obstacles than most people able bodied people,

Kyle is an entrepreneur, speaker, best-selling author of the book No Excuse, he was the focus of a moving ESPN documentary called “A Fighting Chance.” has appeared on Oprah, HBO Sports, ABC's 20/20, He was on the University of Georgia wrestling team, he is an ESPY award winner, the first quadruple amputee to climb to the top of the highest mountain in Africa at 19,340 feet, and the summit of Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua at 22,838 feet.

Find out how the environment Kyle grew up in affected his positive mindset despite his physical setbacks. Kyle talks about how his parents “Jedi-mind tricked” him into believing that he was capable of doing the same things his able-bodied peers could do. Their confidence in him was a key ingredient to the success and independence he steadily built.

In the interview, Kyle describes some of the darker periods of his life when he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue on. He says, “I’m fortunate and lucky at the fact that I didn’t make a more permanent decision to end my life at that point.”

Every day we’re faced with a choice– do we want to live within the confines we’ve set for ourselves or do we want to try to surpass them?

“If we’re fixed to what we know, we can’t grow,” Kyle says. “I used to say anything is possible, but I don’t really believe that,” he continues. “I believe a better way to state that is to know your limits but never stop trying to break them. But that only happens by, ironically, not knowing your limits.”

Kyle’s story serves as a reminder that we so often define our lives by what we don’t have. Perhaps instead we should start focusing on what we do.

Show Notes

0:05:28 How he types 50 words per minute ...without hands

0:06:43 Kyles 1st experience with resilience as a kid

0:06:48 Hie parents jedi mind trick to get him tough

07:39 Learning how to wrestle, an education in failure

09:57 His first goal in wrestling

11:39 For BJJ grappling nerds only.

0:13:48: The power of belief

18:25 Why no arms and legs is his greatest strength

23:47 His parents “bounce” moment

26:23 Great story where he talks about the first time dressed himself

34:09. The “bounce”. When the worst periods in life turn into the best periods

Democracy Now! 2025-09-11 Thursday

Democracy Now! 2025-09-11 Thursday