I asked ChatGPT to come up with some new ideas for my impossible list next year. If you're not familiar, ChatGPT is a new project by OpenAI designed to make AI content accesible in a chat format. I decided to ask it to help me come up with some new idea for my impossible list. I'm going to admit: "join a protest in a foreign country" caught me off guard. I decided to ask them for more "very, very extreme sports" to try out. Now with ...
48 Hours of Nothing
I went to a Getaway House for the first time in a few years a few weeks ago to do a quarterly retreat. I’ve been meaning to do a quarterly retreat and planning process but I seem to find a way to get out of it. Working hard is easy enough for me, but taking a step back to plan out the lay of the land has always been a struggle. Going during the week drops the Getaway pricing from like $400-$500 on their peak weekends (crazy talk) to roughly ...
Vulnerability is Overrated
Vulnerability is overrated. That’s it. That’s the tweet. Fun story - I actually sat down next to Brene Brown in a Portland classroom “greenroom” while we were both getting ready to do breakout talks at one of the first WDS events 10+ years ago. Great lady, and then next year she went on to give her TED talk on vulnerability that’s got some 17M views and counting. Great job Brene! Maybe at the time, vulnerability needed some PR, but it’s gone way ...
12 Things I’ve Learned From Running IMPOSSIBLE ® For 12 Years
I was meaning to write this last month, but life came up. Some point over the past 6 weeks, Impossible turned 12. Wow! A lot has happened, from running my first triathlon, to an ultra marathon on every continent, to getting sued (twice), starting multiple businesses, getting in the best shape of my life, and knocking a ton of stuff off my impossible list. My life changed dramatically when I spun up some bluehost servers to start my blog (while ...
How I Got In The Best Shape of My Life at 35
“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” - Socrates Right around the beginning of the year, I looked in the mirror. I was working out 5 days / week, getting my butt kicked and when I looked in the mirror, I thought “meh.” I wasn’t fat, wasn’t jacked, but definitely didn’t think I looked like I worked out as hard ...
Why I Created Impossible Sleep™
→ Impossible Sleep is available here Sleep has always been something I’ve struggled with. I’m great at doing things, setting goals and accomplishing them, training hard and pushing through challenges. But when it comes to sleep - I always struggled. It felt like the antithesis of that. "I’m just supposed to do nothing?" "For 8 hours?" "And that’s good for you?" "What if I just didn’t do that and worked more?" That seems like a ...
It’s almost too late
It’s almost too late. You think you have time. But you don’t. You think you can get to it later. But you won’t. You think it’s fine that you’re putting off that decision. It’s not. You want to start that business. How long have you been saying that? You want to learn that new skill? When’s the last time you did anything more than watch a YouTube video on it? You want to get in shape for the summer? Better start now. Everyone ...
Terminator Mentality: How to Accomplish Nearly Anything
Terminator mentality. Cyborg mindset. Military mode. I’ve written about this before, but this is my go to method when doing something I don’t want to do. Some people react to stress by hyping themselves up. You see this in cold water. People do breathing exercises, scream at the top of their lungs, chant, or dance around. People do this a lot. Especially in Austin. This is not that. The problem with screaming is eventually you run out of ...
Metrics vs Momentum
Almost every founder or athlete I know has a bunch of core metrics they track. Traffic, revenue, Customers, CAC, and LTV in business. Weight, Body Fat %, fitness standards, and PRs in fitness. Almost everyone who’s serious tracks metrics. Some meticulously. Not nearly enough people pay attention to momentum. Metrics you can measure. Momentum you can feel. What does your gut tell you?What do other people say unprompted?How do you feel? It’s ...
18 Months. Heads Down. Surprise Yourself.
Most people don’t really quit. They just give up too soon. Most of your BIG goal progress are stunted because you have no idea what it takes to get to your goal. You can see results quickly on some things. Aesthetics for example - despite what common perception - is sometimes the easiest to change in 8-12-26 weeks. But if you want to change who you are as a person, athlete, career-wise or something else fundamental about yourself. You need ...
