Earned Not Given

In a world massively influenced by social media, keeping up with the Jones's, nanny states, an expectation of equal outcomes (vs equal opportunity), mass-consumerism and a desire to have it all yesterday - there is an increasing trend of us feeling we are owed something and that we can get whatever we want when we want it.

Many of us are losing touch with the values that lead to fulfilled, engaged, joyful, positive and sustainable outcomes vs fleeting dopamine spikes.

Several weeks ago it was amazing to be surrounded by people with different attitudes. My wife and son were competing in a Spartan Race in Big Bear, CA. About Spartan “Every human can become unbreakable. They’ve simply forgotten how. We deconstruct modern-day comforts by tapping into an ancient methodology built on doing hard s%^t.”

These events are hard enough but doing them at altitude and in mountainous terrain adds some additional spice. It was amazing seeing an incredibly diverse community and hundreds of people putting months/years of training to the test and challenging the courses. You could see the resilience, grit, focus, camaraderie, and commitment needed to get through the events. Everyone did it with an incredibly gracious and positive attitude. At the end each participant could proudly call themselves a Spartan and they did so with a massive smile, replacing a grimace from moments before.

?What I loved most about Spartan was their tagline - Earned not Given!!

The reason I love adventure sports and entrepreneurship is that there is no such thing as success coming for free, not everyone gets "the trophy", success is earned. The community of people aligned with such activities are unique, determined, gritty, hard-working, have resilience in the face of adversity, understand results don’t come overnight and persistence and patience are key. They embrace the journey, set long-term goals, develop a plan and work the plan daily. They understand effort in results in value out. My personal moto has been "expect nothing, give everything" for many years and being at this event was a great reminder of what is important to me. On this occasion, I did not participate but Mel and E did and they crushed it, felt the pain and came out the other side so energized and in flow - I was super proud.

?I was truly inspired and motivated, it has been a while since taking on a big physical challenge as I have been focused on the monumental task of building a business that is positively disrupting and empowering the energy transition, but I think it is time to get back after it and do both and more. There are no freebies in life, you get out of it what you put in and I am a firm believer that we will have a more engaged, happy, successful and motivated community if we remind ourselves it needs to be earned, not given.... the earlier we learn this the better. Supporting one another to success is far more powerful than doing it all alone. “Remember, you are strong alone; but together, we are unbreakable.” Spartan.