Educator  ·  Elementary Principal  ·  Three-time American Ninja Warrior  ·  Speaker

Hold on.

Move forward.

“I'm not the most talented guy in the room. I just refuse to stop going.”

Chad Riddle speaks on grief, grit, and purpose, helping people keep going through hardship and give themselves grace along the way.

What Chad speaks on

Grit

A six-year, multi-surgery comeback, and the case that effort beats talent. There's more than one way over the wall. So what's your beta?

Schools & teams

Grief & Healing

On carrying loss and still moving forward: permission to feel it, and proof you're not the only one on the journey.

Anyone who's grieving

Purpose & Why

Reconnecting people to the reason they show up, delivered by someone who has carried real weight, not a slogan.

Teams & organizations

The short version

You don't control your talent or your circumstances. Only your effort, and how you respond.

I'm 5'9", and I was never the most talented guy on the course. I taught kindergarten, and now I lead a school. I spent six years and a few surgeries getting back to a single American Ninja Warrior buzzer, not because I'm gifted, but because effort is the one thing I actually get to control. Along the way I lost my wife, and learned you can carry your grief with you and still move forward. That's the whole message.