As a four-time Olympic medalist, Shawn Johnson East is one of the most credible people to talk about sticking with something long after the excitement wears off. But these days, she's applying those lessons far beyond the gym.
In her new book, The Courage to Commit, which she co-wrote with her husband, Andrew East, Shawn challenges one of modern life's biggest myths: that there's always something better waiting around the corner.
"I feel like we're living in a time where there are so many voices, and there's so much noise that a lot of people are having a hard time with anxiety," Shawn told The Newsette. "We're also seeing a lot of people feel a lack of purpose and direction and fulfillment in life, or meaning even, and I think it's just because people don't know what to choose and what to do, because there's so many options."
After spending years studying fulfillment, purpose, and decision-making with experts around the world, Shawn and Andrew wanted to share what they've learned. The result is a practical guide backed by science, psychology, and personal experience.
"We filled our book with science and emotion and data and facts to show that this whole commitment thing actually works," she said. "We give you really simple things to implement into your life and to do to find direction and to kind of quiet that noise."
Commitment, said Shawn, isn't about making a choice—it's about continuing to make that choice when things get hard. "I learned a lot of that in gymnastics, I've seen it in business, I've seen it in parenting," she says. "I'd say the greatest testament to it is marriage. I think when you choose to have an immovable thing, for us it's marriage, and you're forced to work through it and stay consistent and show up every day, you find a depth and a meaning to something that you can't otherwise have in life.”
That mindset first took root during her gymnastics career. Looking back, she credits both passion and discipline for helping her push through setbacks and uncertainty.
"I think one of the most beautiful things about all of us as humans is we all have different treasures hidden inside of us, and it's our job to find them," said Shawn. "If you're lucky enough to find that joy, then the discipline makes it a little easier, but it makes it easier to overcome obstacles and hardship and failure, because if you love something, that love helps you stick with it a little bit longer, or get through the hard times. I think I learned that very early on.”
Of course, her years as an elite athlete also taught her a lesson that still guides her today. “As an athlete, I've seen the concept be proven that if I work long enough for something—if I'm the last man standing—it usually works out well.”
Still, Shawn admitted that she had to relearn that lesson after retiring from gymnastics. Like many people, she found herself chasing shortcuts and buying into promises of overnight success.
"I thought after I left [gymnastics] I could go find a job and just be instantly good at it, and I could hack my way to a million dollars," she said. "I kept coming up short, like the world tries to write books on.” Only when she returned to the same principles that made her successful as an athlete did things begin to click, which is what she describes in the book.
If readers take away just one thing from the book? Shawn said she believes it will be “hope.” "Anybody can find fulfillment, purpose, joy, direction, and value in their life. They just kind of have to organize it in a way that makes sense."
In a world that constantly pushes us toward the next thing, Johnson East's message is refreshingly simple: Maybe the secret isn't finding something better—it's staying long enough to discover what's already worth keeping.
