THE TWO MINUTE DRILL
No fluff. No rah-rah. Just tactical, real-world strategies to help you compete today - at work, at home, in life. Because life’s too short to drift through it.
Half of people picked $50k over $100k
Compete Every Day The Comparison Ceiling Welcome to The Two Minute Drill, two minutes of actionable ideas to help you fight drift and compete every day for your best career, relationships, and life. Forwarded this? Join thousands of other readers here. Stop Swinging At Their Scoreboard I went back out for baseball during my freshman year of high school. I'd quit the sport years earlier (a ball to the face during warmups had eventually run me off the diamond as a kid), and as I got older, I...
Why was my hardest climb the easiest?
Compete Every Day Do hard things with good people. Welcome to The Two Minute Drill, two minutes of actionable ideas to help you fight drift and compete every day for your best career, relationships, and life. Forwarded this? Join thousands of other readers here. Find Your Hiking Buddy My 12th climb up Snowbasin this month should have been the hardest of the whole event. By that point, I'd been awake and hiking 26.5 of the last 29 hours. I'd slowed to a two-hour pace, my legs were shot, and I...
What do you do when doubt won't shut up?
Compete Every Day The Voice That Offers You the Exit Welcome to The Two Minute Drill, two minutes of actionable ideas to help you fight drift and compete every day for your best career, relationships, and life. Forwarded this? Join thousands of other readers here. The Voice That Offers You the Exit Last week before I left, I sat with my wife and told her something I hadn't said out loud to many people: I didn't think I could finish the 29029 challenge I was about to take on. Seven and a half...
The coach who spoke to losers like Champions
Compete Every Day Last spring, I had 47 seconds of footage on my phone of my dog Pop-Tart being terrible. Barking at the neighbor through the front window. Shredding a throw pillow. Knocking over the kitchen trash. I'd whip my phone out every time he misbehaved and hit record — partly to send to my wife, partly because I was building a case against him in my own head for a future trainer. Then one Tuesday, I scrolled through my camera roll and realized something embarrassing: I had zero clips...
The Voice That Sounds Like Wisdom But Isn't
Beat yesterday™, every day. Your Floor Determines More I'd be lying if I said I've never heard it. The voice that shows up right when you're about to start something. Right when you're thinking about putting in the work to build something that matters. It doesn't sound like fear. It's smarter than that. It sounds like clarity. In 2012, I was selling T-shirts out of the trunk of my car. Compete Every Day was less than a year old. I had a Shopify account, zero marketing budget, and an audience...
I hired someone who told me she was leaving
COMPETE EVERY DAY Because every day counts. I hired Christine knowing she'd eventually leave. She told me in the interview that she wanted to launch her own yoga brand one day, something similar to what I'd built with Compete Every Day. Most leaders would've passed on her immediately. Why invest in someone who's already planning their exit? I saw it differently. Christine was hungry to learn the business. She wanted to understand how to build something from the ground up. I figured if I...
You can't win a race where someone else is moving your finish line.
Beat yesterday™, every day. The Only Scoreboard Nobody Can Take From You I was sitting in a coffee shop, working on a new keynote that was half-built, and feeling momentum in the creation process - when I made that crucial mistake. I just casually opened Instagram. I wasn't going on to post, I just felt the pull to scroll. And that's when things went off the rails in thirty seconds. I saw a competitor's feed was full of expansion photos. A speaker I came up with just announced a book deal....
I panicked. Then I grabbed a piece of paper.
COMPETE EVERY DAY Beat Yesterday, every day. By the time you're reading this today, I'm most likely being rolled into knee surgery. Minor procedure. Should be fine. But at my pre-op appointment last week, the surgeon stopped me mid-sentence. "There's a chance we get in there, and it's worse than we think. If that happens, six weeks on crutches. No driving. No squatting or running for three to six months." I felt my chest tighten. I've got keynotes booked. Travel scheduled. A 29,029 mountain...
What I do when I can't control the outcome
Beat yesterday™, every day. Controlling the Controllables Frustration I'm supposed to be in Washington, D.C. right now. Literally, I should be at the starting line by the time you're reading this today, getting ready for the start of my heat at the Rock N Roll Half Marathon. Instead, I'm in Frisco, Texas. I trained for months for my race. Had the trip planned. Was looking forward to seeing the monuments, walking the city, doing things I haven't done in 20 years. But in early February, I...
What Pixar and Gold Medals Have in Common
COMPETE EVERY DAY Because every day counts. My next book, Beat Yesterday, is NOW available for preorder at Barnes & Noble here! A 20-year-old just won Olympic gold in figure skating. After the win, Alysa Liu told 60 Minutes: "I love struggling, actually. It makes me feel alive." I've been sitting with that line for a few days. Not because it's a great motivational quote - it is - but because of what it reveals about the environment she competed in. She gave herself permission to struggle. To...
No fluff. No rah-rah. Just tactical, real-world strategies to help you compete today - at work, at home, in life. Because life’s too short to drift through it.