Exploring Life & Business with Prince Daniels Jr of Game Beyond the Game

Today we’d like to introduce you to Prince Daniels Jr.

Hi Prince, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I went to Georgia Tech University to play football as a walk on and worked my way up the roster to become an important piece of our team, even acquiring a starting role in 2003. I played running back and played along recent hall of fame inductee Calvin Johnson, who taught me a lot of lessons and is a good friend of mine to this day. After playing for GT, I was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth round of the 2006 draft. While I did not see the field my rookie year, I still worked hard and was committed to recreating my success at Georgia Tech in Baltimore. However, the world had other plans for me, and I unfortunately sustained a career-ending injury. I began to use meditation and other mindfulness practices during my recovery and eventually joined a monastery that furthered my passion to find my true purpose in life. I felt so lost after my career in the NFL was over and one of the only things that helped me was this journey that I had embarked on to find out why my life had gone the way it had and how to make the most with what I had. I continue this journey to this day and try to help others because I can see the old version of myself within their struggles, and I know that I have the tools and abilities to help them see a brighter future and allow them to bring that future to fruition.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t say it has been a smooth road, but frankly I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. The struggles I went through at Georgia Tech to climb the depth chart from number 7 to number 1 taught me how to be resilient and work twice as hard as the next guy. It taught me how to work tirelessly towards my goal and look at the man to my left and my right and find a way to work harder than them. The journey from my career in the NFL to all that has happened since has taught me acceptance and a different kind of drive; the drive to help others be the best they can be. Right after my injury, I was in bad shape mentally and emotionally and I didn’t know what I would do now that my playing days were behind me. Getting myself back on track and in a place where I can be proud of what I was doing outside the NFL was one of the most difficult but most rewarding things I have ever done. The ability to see that there are other things to do in the world took a massive pressure off my back and reignited my purpose and drive, except this time it was to bring all those around me up to my level of freedom. I just want to get as many people as I can to the level of freedom that I experience because it really does change your life when you are able to dictate the path that your life takes and how you want to affect the world.

As you know, we’re big fans of Game Beyond the Game. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We work with professional athletes and mindfulness experts to try to emphasize how important mindfulness is to high-pressure performers, most notable athletes. Because of my background in professional football and later in getting involved with a monastery, I have come to realize that mindfulness and practices like meditation are key to ensuring that you are performing at the highest level you can and make sure that you realize your highest potential. Not only that, but we work with athletes to help them transition to life after professional sports, hence our name Game Beyond the Game. Many athletes feel lost after they retire from professional play, and many of them cure this sense of emptiness with bad habits and other activities that not only drain much of their savings from their playing days but also only further entrench them in this feeling of hopelessness that their best days must be behind them. We are working to break this trend by facilitating with this transition and making sure that athletes are finding something they can be passionate about outside of professional sports so that they can transfer their passions and continue to be dedicated to something after they retire. I like to emphasize the importance of meditation in any form and the ability to look within yourself and find your true purpose, as I like to say, “your why”.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I enjoy taking risks, I think it teaches you how to become alive and realize that you are alive. I believe that risk taking leads to opportunities you could never have had otherwise. It is invigorating to take risks and you learn from risk taking whether you are successful or not. By succeeding you learn what you did right and by failing, you learn what you did wrong. When my career in the NFL ended and I went into meditation and mindfulness, as much as I knew that it was my path in life and it was destined to happen, I still felt like there was a risk I was taking and I was going against the grain in many ways, showing that I was a truly unique personality.

Image Credits:
Marilen Tran Leybelis Padilla