I just got back from the World Domination Summit (WDS). You can read the WDS recaps and find more about WDS here if you're not familiar with it. --- Donald Miller was the final keynote speaker at WDS. I got the chance to hang out and chat with Don in the atrium for 30 minutes or so before his keynote and it was great to get some personal insight from him. There were a bunch of highlights in his talk, but the one that stood out to me was this little ...
This Isn’t Even My Final Form!
Warning: This might be the nerdiest post I've written to date (wait for it). The Gap There's always a gap in everything you do: the gap between who you are currently are and what you'll one day be capable of. That effing gap. It's the worst thing in the world. You want to cross it and just get it over with, but that's not how it works. You have to take it step by step. Effing gap. Ira Glass has a few words to say on the gap when it comes to creative ...
How To Run An Obstacle Race
I've done quite a few obstacle races at this point in time (including a GORUCK Challenge, which is a whole other monstrosity of a challenge). They're one of the best ways to break into running, or fitness in general, if you need a good way to get out of the house and have fun with some friends and you're not quite ready for a marathon (or ultra) yet. However, a couple weeks ago I ran my first Tough Mudder. It's billed as "probably the toughest event ...
A Tough Question
Greetings from Colombia! I'm spending some time now in Bogota after spending the first part of the week with the Pencils of Promise team in Guatemala, checking out the brand new dedicated Impossible school we built during the first part of the year! I'll have more updates (and a lot of photos) on that soon but, as I've been traveling the past week or so, I want to talk about a great question that Jeff Sarris of the ever-talented Spyr Media brought up, ...
5 Simple Motivation Hacks
Here are 5 simple motivation hacks. These aren't the common ones you'll find on Oprah. They're real ones that actually work - if you're brave enough to test them for yourself. I'm not even going to do a boring intro on why they work. They just do. Here we go: Hulk Up Get pissed. Get seriously pissed at your goal. Throw stuff. Break things. Yell. Scream. Call your goal names and punch it in the nose. Then go dominate it. It works for the ...
My TEDxLUC Cold Shower Therapy™ Talk
--- Back in March, I spoke at TEDxLUC, the independently organized TEDx event at Loyola University. It was my first ever TEDx talk. I almost didn't do it because I had a bunch of other things going on and I wasn't quite sure that I could pull it off in time. But one day I was taking a cold shower and I suddenly knew what I had to talk about. This wasn't my first speaking engagement (I've spoken at Target and at several colleges), but it's one of ...
How To Impose Your Will On A Situation
This Saturday, I crossed another thing off my list and did a century ride for the first time (technically it was 112.5 miles). I thought it'd be a nice relaxing ride in flat, midwest Indiana where I could take my time, relax and finish at my own pace with a few friends. Of course, I've never done done anything close to 100 before and this was my first time on the bike this year, so this seemed like a great idea, but I'll get to the full story in a ...
The Domino Effect
Note: This is a more personal post than I typically write. Maybe it helps explain the reasoning behind what I do. Every once in a while someone asks me to change the way I write. "I really like your site, but if you could just change xyz then I think you'd really be more appealing." These comments are usually meant in good faith, but the message is still the same. "If you weren't so extreme, then you could bring in more people. You could expand your ...
Do You Suffer From Shiny Object Syndrome?
Shiny Object Syndrome Do you suffer from shiny object syndrome? Are you easily distracted by "shiny" new ideas? Are you constantly starting new ideas only to move on to the next one as soon as it gets hard? Do you only ever make it through 50% of a fitness program, before ditching it for the bigger, better, coolest program out there (only to do the exact same thing 50% of the way through). Well, chances are you have shiny object syndrome. Don't worry, ...
7 Habits of Highly Effective Quitters
We're switching gears today. Today I want to talk about those people that don't get a lot of mentions here on the blog. The unsung heroes. The ones who are always right. The ones that never get enough attention. The realistic ones. The quitters. This ones for you. And for all of you doers out there - maybe you can pick up a lesson or two from these 7 Habits of Highly Effective Quitters 7 Habits of Highly Effective Quitters 1. Don't Even Start The ...