Assume everything will work out. Then do the work to make it true. That's not blind faith. It's earned faith. Active optimism with receipts. The combination creates a quiet confidence that handles uncertainty better than anything else you could build. Expect the win. Then go earn the Expectation.

Respect for all. Intention and energy is a gift, not a gift for all.

Been sitting with something and figured I'd just say it out loud instead of keeping it in my head. Every one of us landed here looking for something. Didn't matter what it looked like on the surface, underneath it we were all just trying to figure out how to be better men. That's exactly how it's supposed to start. You show up, you take what you need, you keep coming back. Somewhere in that process, something shifts. Not all at once, more like you notice it after the fact. You're still learning, you never really stop, but you look up one day and realize you're carrying something now that somebody else in your life doesn't have yet. A guy at work who goes quiet sometimes and you've clocked it but never said anything. Your brother in law. That buddy from years back you keep meaning to check on. I'm not bringing this up to put that on anybody. I'm bringing it up because that's exactly where I found myself. I was part of another community before this one, still am actually, and at some point what I was getting from it stopped being just for me. I felt this pull toward wanting to hand it off to somebody else. That pull is honestly the whole reason Anchored and Ready exists. That's what I mean by being a lighthouse. A lighthouse doesn't chase ships down or yell at them to come closer. It just stays lit, and because it's lit, somebody out there can find their way by it. You see something, you say something. That's really the whole thing. Not a program, not a responsibility you have to carry perfectly, just being willing to say the thing when you notice it. I don't think any of us plan for this moment. I sure didn't see mine coming. But if you've been doing some of this work, there's a decent chance you're already that for somebody without even clocking it yourself. I just wanted to name it, because having it named is what did it for me. That's the whole thought. Curious if anyone else has felt that pull, or has a guy in mind they've been meaning to say something to.

How much truth you can handle about yourself dictates success…? Is that a real thing? What are the gifts of that perspective?

Sports scorekeeping is great. Business scorekeeping is great. Both are designed and intended to deliver results, Winners & Losers. But for you and I this cannot be how we measure results and progress. Comparison is the thief of joy. We are now more than ever surrounded by opportunity via comparison. Ads are just comparisons and are very effective in sales. You are not a product to be sold. Why do you sell yourself the result that someone else has gotten without also putting in the exact work to go toward it? Do you even know how much work they put in? Do you realize that it will never be the same for them as it is for you. You might actually stand a better chance than they did. But you sit and keep score and make no progress. Let’s go somewhere a little more hidden and not so obvious. You can write down in the comments whichever less obvious thing that you hide or used to hide. The thing you minimize because it sucks. The thing you do in private because it contradicts all your public goals. We’ve all seen the diet ad where the husband and wife sneak off to a closet to hid and eat a snack and then find out that they went to the same closet. Then we feel the ad reminding us its ok - and we laugh about it because they designed the ad for entertainment. Some of that is real and yet the world of business uses it so lightly. - The fear you have of not measuring up in one of a thousand possible examples - so you hide it. - Fear of abandonment and watching others be loved. - Fear of failure - The action in trying just feels like failure so you don’t act. - Rejection - being told no and taking it personally. - Criticism and coaching intended to be helpful causes more shutting down and seclusion. - Showing up where people are gathered makes you nervous because on the inside you’re a mess so you stop showing up. - After a long time of wanting to be invited and then telling yourself a lie repeatedly - you do get the invite and you say you can’t go because it wouldn’t be right for you with your issues to show up with everyone else enjoying themselves… that you’d just be a burden.