You aren’t going to lose the weight or save the money or get fit or get healthier. You aren’t going to eat better, you aren’t going to get stronger, and you won’t achieve any significant goal.

You won’t experience the intensity of a personal breakthrough or the relief that you finally did the goddamn thing you’ve been telling everyone you were on the cusp of doing.
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You aren’t going to change. Not until you get desperate about it.

If you find yourself constantly looking for inspiration in your Facebook feed or spend time scouring YouTube for the right video that finally makes your vision click – if you’re looking for starter fuel and the perfect opportunity on a silver platter, then you aren’t there yet.

I’m tired of hearing the same bullshit motto of every ALMOST wandering the internet:

“I’m gonna begin a path of transformation!” they exclaim which is quickly followed by a small whisper under their breath, “but only when there’s a perfect window of opportunity and my circumstances improve….”

You’re going to fail and you’ll be stuck with that type of shit for the rest of your life.

I’m going to be real with you because no one else is going to tell you this: Doing the goddamn work, the unglamorous, lonely, cold as fuck work, is more important than anything else you can possibly imagine.  

Doing the work is more important than your strategy. Doing the work is more important than your tactics. Doing the work is more important than your circumstance and more important than how you grade your output.   

Do the work. Just do the goddamn work.  

Desperation is ugly. Everything comes second to desperation. Desperation wakes you up in the morning because you’re tired of eating shit sandwiches every day. Desperation doesn’t need motivation. Desperation doesn’t “burn out” because the sugar rush of change came and went.

Desperation isn’t funny. Because this shit isn’t funny.

Desperation isn’t sad. It doesn’t have anything to do with your feelings of inadequacy or anxiety. If you’re still trapped in a “maybe” moment or searching for that secret to it all – then you aren’t desperate yet. 

Desperate people drink their own piss to survive in the wilderness.  Desperate people learn to eat anything to survive when they’re starving. Desperation finds a goddamn way to become your number one priority. Everything gets conquered by desperation. 

Become desperate and do the goddamn work today. Then do it tomorrow. Then do it for a month. Then do it for a goddamn year until it becomes who the fuck you are and not just what you do.

Love,

DAD
 
 
 

People spend years preparing to climb Everest. They work to increase their VO2 Max, anaerobic threshold, and lactate threshold. They focus brutally on leg strength and are relentless at turning their core into cast iron. They study weather patterns, they learn everything there is to know about cold weather, and the myriad of ways they can die on the climb.

(3) Important Everest Facts:

1. 265 people have died climbing Everest between 1922 to 2014.
2. It will cost between $35,000 - $65,000 to climb Everest with the proper supplies and guides.
3. It takes about 2-months to climb Everest.
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Here is the part that no one thinks about: What do you do when you get to the top? 

From my research, you spend 15 minutes or less basking in the glory of the Summit and then you immediately turn around make your way back down so you don't die.

All you get is 15 minutes at the top. 

That phrase by Eric Thomas in ALL its brevity is so powerful and true to me that I went on a small quest to write this article in an effort to capture the spirit of the phrase and to expand on what it can mean for you in your pursuit of happiness.

Process Percentage

The process of any effort is 99% of the effort. Only 1% is attributed to the prize.

This led to a lot of clarity around the idea of happiness and why some people have it and why some people don’t. Most people are so focused on the prize, the summit of the thing they are doing, that they never take the time to enjoy the process, the path build, the rising action that gets them there. The very thing that takes up 99% of their experience and time is the thing they hate the most....

People see the process as a burden. The process takes too long. The process is boring. The process is expensive. The process isn’t glamorous. The process is a struggle.  

If we do the math on that, then the PRIZE ONLY  mentality means people will spend 99% of their time in a state of struggle, boredom, impatience, and burden.

It’s as if they horde all of their happiness and dopamine in their brain for the 1% window of climax that may only come along rarely. Even when it does arrive, and as soon as it arrives, it already begins to fleet and quickly moves into the recesses of a memory.

What a terrible place to invest all of your happiness. Why would you want to put all your happiness into such a small compartment? At best, you get it briefly, at worst, you never experience it at all. 
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We as a people have the ability to spend our joyous moments in the expansive space of process and not just in the higher degrees of zenith at our Summit.

We control the allocation of our Joy. If it is a home project, a fitness goal, a financial milestone, or the week leading up to Christmas, make sure to find joy in the process leading up to your moment of monumental achievement. Do this, because it will only last a few short moments before it's gone and all you’ll be left with is the road that got you there.