Hey friends,
I ran a 5km fun run today—without stopping once!
Not much of an achievement for many, but I’m pretty proud of myself.
For years I told myself: I’m not sporty, I’m not a runner.
But it turns out, that was just a convenient excuse.
The biggest thing holding me back from sports wasn’t my physical ability, it was the story I told myself about what I could and couldn’t do, and who I was and wasn’t.
As explored in The Courage to Be Disliked, we sometimes unknowingly create excuses to avoid discomfort or change.
We blame external forces for holding us back when, in reality, it’s our own mindset keeping us stuck.
It’s not that I couldn’t run 5km before—I just assumed it would be too hard. I didn’t see myself as a runner. I was worried about what others thought of me. I was afraid of failing.
But that was all in my head.
Choosing action over excuse is often easier than we think.
Sometimes, courage is simply challenging a belief you’ve held for too long.
What’s something you’ve always told yourself you can’t do? Is that actually true, or is it just a story you’ve been repeating?
Are you avoiding something because you fear failure or discomfort? If you let go of that limiting belief, what’s the worst that could happen if you tried—and what’s the best that could happen?
Ben x
p.s. My ears have been blessed
Two thoughtful quotes I found this week
James Clear on getting what you deserve:
People frequently get what they deserve, but it doesn't feel like it because the unspoken rule is that you only deserve it if you have (1) the courage to attempt it, (2) the guts to ask for it, and (3) the willingness try again when it doesn't work out the first time.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 on there being no such thing as a perfect moment - just moments made perfect through our actions (surfaced through Sahil Bloom’s newsletter):
Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
Some interesting facts about speed
I found this graphic in a cute little newsletter I read, The Maddy Memo.
Maddy says: “Whatever your opinion on how fast people should drive on our roads, there is one fact that is undeniable – speed will determine the seriousness of the outcome of any crash. Slower speeds do save lives.”
Something else I liked from Maddy’s newsletter
A million seconds is 11 days, but a billion seconds is 32 years.
A great analogy to help us understand how much richer a billionaire is than a millionaire.