The Mirror
Thirty years ago, when I started mountain bike racing, I hired a coach who was a world champion. After the VO2 tests, I asked him one question: aside from the training, is there anything that could help me get ahead? I was confused when he handed me Mind Gym. Thirty years and probably thirty more books on mindset and human performance later, here’s what writing these letters has shown me. I still have a long way to go! To deepen my faith. To train my mind. To keep my focus on what is good. To find the courage to aim bigger in my goals. That’s the thing about an honest mirror: the more closely you look, the more you see left to build.
- The Triple. The weight you carry that was never yours to carry.
- Good People. Get in the arena. Warrior spirit, servant’s heart.
- As a Man Thinketh. What you focus on grows.
- Life is Difficult. Stop resenting hard. Choose your hard and own it.
- The Strangest Secret. Say the real goal out loud. Fear is the gate, not the wall.
- Man’s Search for Meaning. The bigger the why, the easier the how.
- The Language You Use. Your words and energy build the room. Up or down.
That’s Phase 1. Wake Up: done. Seven weeks of holding ideas up to the light. Now read that list again slowly, because the question that matters isn’t whether you nodded along. It’s whether anything is measurably better, faster, and stronger.
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”
That’s the trap. Reading these and feeling something is easy. Looking honestly and actually changing is the whole game. I’m not asking for perfect, I’m nowhere near it. I’m asking for honest. One real shift beats seven good intentions.
And here’s the fire I want you carrying into this next stretch. Life and business are Darwinian. You adapt, or you get left behind. The Wright Brothers were first in the air. If “just do your job staying the same” were a strategy, the Wright Company would still be leading the world, flying 20 feet at a time. They stopped improving. The world flew right past them, and they’re gone.
- What have I actually noticed in myself these seven weeks?
- What is one thing that has genuinely shifted?
- What have I made measurably better, in me, my team, and this company?
Phase 1 was waking up.
Phase 2 is where we go to work on the inside, and it gets harder from here.. . GOOD.. . Bring some fire this month. Let’s get after it in life, family, and business!!!
Lots of love,
Nate
