Happy Labor Day, and the start of another month! We have four months left until the end of the year, and we are 67% of the way through 2024. I hope you’ve been successful with some of your goals and resolutions for the year, but what I really hope is that if things have gotten off track, that you reset for this finish.

Here is a parable from the podcast that produced most of the content for this week’s letter (more below) to get things started this week. Things happen to us - but whether they are good or bad is often only a result of our perspective, not the event itself:

The Story of a Chinese Farmer:

A farmer and his son had a beloved horse who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”

A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild horses back to the farm as well. The neighbors shouted out, “Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”

Later that week, the farmer’s son was trying to break one of the horses and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The neighbors cried, “Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.”

A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all boys for the army. They did not take the farmer’s son, because he had a broken leg. The neighbors shouted, “Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!” To which the farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”

It is really impossible to tell whether anything that happens is good or bad.

You never know what the consequences of misfortune or good fortune will be, as only time will tell the whole story.

Brain - 24 Controversial Truths About Success & Failure - Modern Wisdom #830

Modern Wisdom #830 - Alex Hormozi - 24 Controversial Truths About Success & Failure

29 Volumes later we return to the bank of “Modern Wisdom” that is Alex Hormozi. This is the third installment of Chris Williamson and Alex feeding each other hard-hitting quotes and ideas that are further broken down by great discussion.

Alex Hormozi is not for everyone - his work-first focus contradicts the modern movement towards work-life balance, taking back control, and the anti-corporate push.

You’re free to have your opinion on Alex as a person, or Chris for that matter as well, but I am not sure how you can listen to this 3 hour podcast of quotes and not feel inspired or challenged to take action SOMEWHERE.

I am in the process of transcribing the key takeaways from this episode. I will clean it up, put it in PDF form, and distribute a download link here in a following newsletter. At my current pace, it could be 10+ pages…but I have gotten months of inspiration from the previous 2 episodes - expect the same from this one - and want others to enjoy it the same way I do. I think adopting some of these mindsets could change your life - in a no-bull-shit way.

Here are some passages from the last hour of the podcast to get you warmed up for your listen:

• “The biggest risk to your future isn’t your competition, it’s the distractions you insist on keeping in your life rather than doing the things you know you should be doing but aren’t. People delay doing things they don’t like for longer than it takes to do them.”

• “General ambition gives you anxiety - specific ambition gives you direction”

• “It’s never been easier to start a business, to make money, to get in shape - it has just also never been easier to do nothing”

• “Not knowing is really powerful, because then learning becomes the only directive.”

• A lot of self-work can be summarized into:

  • Thoughts aren’t true

  • Feelings don’t require actions

  • Things aren’t good or bad, they just are

  • Our greatest enemy is ignorance

  • To change your life, change your surroundings

  • Our actions, not our pasts, define who we are

Body - You Track By The Day - What About By The Week?

Our “Body” focus of the week is yet again a pull from the wisdom of Alex Hormozi, but it was a powerful enough reframing of a mundane idea that I felt I needed to single it out from the 3 hours it was encased in.

In the same episode from above, Alex discusses many reasons why people set and fail at goals, specifically around fitness & dieting. So often our goals and their success are dictated by the timeline we set around it. We have a short attention span these days, and so to most, the only acceptable goals to set come with unrealistic timeframes.

“I’m going to lose 50 pounds in 6 months” - “I’m going to run a marathon in 3 months” - “I’m going to read 4 books this month”

Alex transitions from this idea that if we simply take the same goal, but extend the time horizon for which we desire to chase it, we drastically increase the likelihood of success. It also improves our ability to weather the ruts we are guaranteed to experience. It feels far less damaging to have a bad day when your goal is over 12 months than when you have a bad week during a 2 month goal.

The best portion of this discussion was around calories:

“People measure the amount of calories they need to eat per day, but very few people measure the amount of calories they need to eat per week. People will blow the day and say well screw it we’ll have a pizza on top of it because I had chocolate and already went off my diet. But if you have a weekly outlook even, then you’re like “Oh I can have a pizza tonight, then I’ll just skip most of my food tomorrow besides protein.”

I have been a steadfast daily calorie counter when I am in my dieting phases, but for most people, I am really intrigued by this idea of counting your calories for the week, in an effort to give yourself some flexibility and increase the chances of staying on track.

If your calorie goal for the day is 2500 as an example, then you could simply reframe that to your calorie goal for the week being 17,500. That reframing can now look like:

• Monday: On track, 2500 Calories

• Tuesday: On track, 2500 Calories

• Wednesday: I know we’re going out to dinner Friday, let’s bank 500 calories for that, 2000 Calories

• Thursday: Same plan as Wednesday, 2000 calories

• Friday: Dinner comes with some drinks and a heavy meal - 3500 calories (1000 over your daily number - oh no!)

• Saturday: Went a little over today, 3000 calories

• Sunday: Pushed back breakfast and consumed 2000 calories in the 12 - 7 PM window

  • Weekly Total: 17,500 Calories (2500 average)

  • Cheat meals - 2 “off track” days here, but for the week, we are still winning

The only qualifier I have for this if you are looking to adopt will be a non-negotiable around protein. If you are planning some days with lighter calories, ensure that those meals are skewed toward protein-focused. Dieting or putting on muscle, exceeding .8g of protein per pound of body weight is a foundational pillar.

It takes about a 3500 calorie deficit to lose a pound. Find a way to achieve that over a week, extend that out for how many weeks you need to lose a pound during, and go.

What else could you reframe to a weekly basis?

Book - Running To The Edge by Matthew Futterman

Reading world - I am BACK and officially out of the reading rut. As we discussed in last week’s newsletter, I was having some trouble picking up a book and turning the pages. It was only about a 2 week rut, but a rut nonetheless.

One thing I know about myself is that when I find something I am passionate about or some new venture I want to set out on, I obsess. I want to consume all of the content and knowledge I can about the subject. Follow the influential thinkers on social media, read the books, listen to the podcasts, watch the videos. Understand it front to back. This mindset has its downsides (it’s all consuming) but it’s what I’ve got and it’s who I am.

Which is why the easiest prescription for my latest reading rut was to pick up a book about running. I fully have the itch to get back on the training wagon, and this biography-style coverage of one of America’s greatest running coaches hit the nail right on the head. If you are a fan of underdog stories and/or running in general, this one is a page-turner. This passage below will be one I continue to reference:

“He knows there are going to be more, many more likely, until the rest of the world figures out - The true value of running at the edge, of holding your hand over the candle and letting it begin to burn. There it is, the essence of Larsen’s way. Take that journey to a moment that feels dangerous. Then stay there. Make it last. Learn to find comfort in that space. Go there with a like-minded soul, so you are not afraid to push the edge out a little further on the next journey, to stay there a little longer, and then longer still. And faster. In this way, every mile, every second, becomes meaningful, because the longer you are there, the longer you believe you can stay, perhaps forever.”

BRB - Running through a brick wall

Running to the Edge: A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed