Do hard things. Pick one a year that defines the year, and live around it. Here’s where that’s taken me.
The first one. Seventy-five days of the program, every day, while running Undergrads. It taught me the year could be built around one thing.
I signed up for a full-distance triathlon with no triathlon background. Day 8 was my first 100 in the pool, with fins. From April 20 I logged 226 sessions on Strava.
The day before the race in Calella, organizers cancelled it because of a severe storm warning. No start, no finish, no result. Months of training and nowhere to put it.
Source: TRI247 report on the cancellation.
On race day I went out and ran it anyway. 26.27 mi, average heart rate 162, first half at 9:23/mi, second at 10:55/mi. It wasn’t the finish line I planned for. It was still the hard thing.
I’m choosing now. Get notified when I announce it.
The race was called off the day before. I had trained since April for one day, and the day was gone. So the next day I ran 26.27 miles in Calella anyway.
From Strava. The race itself has no result: it never started.
A misogi is one hard challenge a year: hard enough that you might not finish it, and chosen so that the attempt changes you. The point isn’t the medal. It’s who you have to become to try.
That’s the frame I use. One thing, every year, in public.
“I can honestly say that nothing good in my life has ever happened from the safety of my comfort zone.”
Richard Branson, Virgin blog, Jan 1, 2019
“Even when things don’t go to plan, you’ll have built something. Learned something. And have one hell of a story to tell.”
Richard Branson, Virgin blog, Jul 10, 2025
Barcelona didn’t go to plan. That second line is the one I think about.
Dan Martell
Showed me how to make room for a hard thing while running a company.