Meet Tayne Griffin | Amateur Racer and Personal Growth Junkie

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tayne Griffin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tayne, any advice for those thinking about whether to keep going or to give up?
There is an experience that occurs when we are on the brink of breakthrough. I’ve seen it in coaching others and I’ve had the experience myself, multiple times in fact. What a lot of people don’t realize is that breakDOWN often comes just before breakTHROUGH. What do I mean by that? I’ll use myself and learning how to drive a race car as an example. I was with my coach and we were working on a particular corner that really scared me. This corner is the fastest on the track, exits to a downhill and the exit is blind with pit wall to my left. There is no room for error. As we were running the track, my coach was sitting next to me and in me ear (my radio) at the same time. My coach is excellent at what he does. He was giving me real time adjustments to make in order to conquer this corner and because we were driving at such a fast pace, the verbal adjustments came at lightning speed. Suddenly the noise, the speed and the fear all became too much. I started to loose my breath, I started to doubt myself, I had to get out of the car. My eyes started to sting with tears but thankfully, I recognized what was happening. I was in breakdown. This is the moment when life feels like too much, I start to tell myself I can’t do it and I start to operate as someone who has been defeated. Because of the work I’ve done on myself throughout my life, I remembered that what I was experiencing was not only normal, but it meant good things were on the other side of me not giving up in this moment. I took a breath, made the decision to keep going and ended up posting a personal best in time around the track. Breakthrough occurred.

I’m not suggesting this is true in every situation. I find this experience is true in endeavors that are meant to make us grow. There are certainly times when continuing on is not the best idea. Any situation that threatens our personal wellbeing should be seriously evaluated before pushing on. I simply want to share that there are times in life that will feel very hard and make us feel like we want to give up but to first, stop and ask ourselves if we are giving up because we are in danger or if we are just scared and overwhelmed. When I became armed with the truth of breakdown before breakthrough, I feared less and conquered more.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The Tayne Experiment was created out of a decision I made, to live a full life. I have spent many years coaching others, guiding them through 1 on 1 sessions, seminars and keynotes on how to live fully. I love holding space for others to step into their full potential, it truly lights me up. But, I realized I wasn’t living my fullest potential. It was time to turn the coaching around and onto myself. I was ready to push myself through something challenging, to see what I could do, to witness the extent of my character and to live a life I was excited about and could feel proud of.

I landed on race car driving. Who would have thought?!? The endeavor seemed very big but the result, being able to race a car, seemed like the coolest thing ever if I could pull it off. I set a goal of racing my first race, hired an incredible trainer and have never looked back. I’ve completed my first race series and now, I’m set to make a professional racing debut in 2023.

I knew this would be hard. I knew I would face incredible fear, self-doubt, set backs and struggles so I made the decision to document it for others to share in the experience. I started a YouTube channel to post a series of events and an Instagram feed to keep everyone up to date on the little things. My goal was to show that it’s never too late to step into our greatness and to show that’s it’s not easy either! It’s not just Instagram perfect moments. It’s frustration, tears, upsets and triumphs. It’s the community that supports us. The grit inside we didn’t know we had. The chance to feel truly proud of who we are and what we are capable of.

The Tayne Experiment is just me, trying to live my life the best way I can, through trying new, crazy things and hoping it inspires someone else along the way to reach for more for themselves too.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Kai Goddard at Track Rekord. I started working with Track Rekord in hopes of feeling more capable behind the wheel of a car on a track. What I have received is so much more. Being coached by Track Rekord has opened the door to a level of confidence in driving I didn’t know was possible for me. I’m a stronger, braver more competent driver and person because of their coaching. I went from dreaming of racing one day to a race car driving competitor. I’m forever grateful!

Instagram: @thetayneexperiment

Youtube: The Tayne Experiment

Image Credits
Nicole Curtin Photography (family photo)