5 Summits Evolution Coaching

FAIL FORWARD FAST
If every idea you try works, you may be operating too conservatively.
The competitive advantage isn't being right every time.

It's becoming extraordinarily fast at discovering what is right.

Too many potentially great ideas die in the planning stage.

We analyze.

We prepare.

We refine.

We wait for certainty.

And sometimes perfectionism disguises itself as preparation.

I've decided on a different approach:

Put the idea into the marketplace and let reality answer the question.

That's what I call F3 — Fail Forward Fast.

Failure isn't the opposite of success.

It's information.

An attempt produces a result.

The result produces feedback.

Feedback produces learning.

Learning produces a better attempt.

And enough intelligent attempts eventually produce the breakthrough.

MY DAILY F3 QUESTIONS

At the end of each day, I ask:

What did I attempt today?
What worked?
What didn't work?
What did I learn?
What will I do differently tomorrow?

And most importantly:

What is the next action?

I'm learning not to judge myself by any single outcome.

I judge myself by my willingness to execute, learn, adapt and continue.

The objective isn't to avoid being wrong.

The objective is to discover what works faster.

My mission remains fixed.

My strategy remains flexible.

My ex*****on remains relentless.

80% PLAN → EXECUTE → FEEDBACK → OODA → ADJUST → EXECUTE AGAIN

Then repeat.

Faster.

Smarter.

Better.

Fail Forward Fast.

Because the person willing to learn faster, adapt faster and execute again has an extraordinary advantage over the person still waiting for the perfect plan.

What could you put into action today at 80% instead of waiting until it's 100% perfect?

~Daily Notes From The Climb
5 Summits Evolution Coaching

Daily Notes From The Climb - Stop Chasing Clarity
Something interesting happened on Sunday’s trail run.

As I often do, I went into the forest with one intention:

Quiet the mind. Be present. Notice what’s around me.

No podcast.
No problem-solving.
No trying to figure anything out.

Just the trail, my breathing, the trees, and gratitude for being there.

And then something unexpected happened.

Ideas started arriving.

Not the kind of thoughts I normally have when I’m sitting at a desk trying to solve a problem.

These felt different.

I wasn’t thinking the thoughts.

I was observing them.

Solutions appeared to challenges I’ve been working on for weeks. Things that had seemed disconnected suddenly fit together. Decisions became clearer. Ideas I had been wrestling with suddenly seemed obvious.

And none of it required effort.

It simply flowed.

It reminded me of something we often forget in a world obsessed with productivity:

Not every breakthrough comes from pushing harder.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is create enough silence for the answer to emerge.

We spend so much of our lives consuming, reacting, analyzing and forcing.

Emails.
Messages.
Meetings.
Deadlines.
Problems.
Noise.

Then we wonder why we can’t think clearly.

Maybe clarity isn’t always something we need to find.

Maybe it’s already there, underneath the noise.

The forest didn't give me the answers.

It simply gave my mind enough space to hear them.

This week’s climb:
Create some deliberate silence.

Walk. Run. Sit by the water. Go into the woods.

Leave the headphones behind.

Don't try to solve anything.

Just become quiet enough to notice what shows up.

You might be surprised by what your mind has been trying to tell you.

Daily Notes From The Climb
5 Summits Evolution Coaching

Three years feels reasonable.

But what if reasonable is the problem?

When we give ourselves three years, we naturally build a three-year plan based on what we already know how to do.

But compress the timeline to one year and suddenly the old plan doesn't work.

Now you have to think differently.

Different priorities.
Different decisions.
Different actions.

That's where quantum leaps begin.

The Daily Edge:

If you absolutely had to accomplish your 3-year goal this year...

what would you stop doing, and what would you start doing immediately?

What would the next evolution of me look like today?
We live in a world obsessed with upgrades.

The newest phone.
The newest app.
The newest AI tool.
The newest productivity hack.

We’re constantly searching for something outside ourselves that will make us faster, smarter, more productive, or more successful.

But here’s a question I’ve been thinking about:

When was the last time you upgraded the person using all those tools?

Human beings created every technology we now marvel at.

Before any invention existed in the physical world, it existed in someone’s imagination.

Which means the most powerful technology we possess may still be the human mind.

Yet most of us spend far more time upgrading our devices than upgrading our thinking.

Maybe the next breakthrough isn’t another app.

Maybe it’s greater discipline.
A stronger body.
A calmer mind.
More courage.
Deeper focus.
A bigger vision of what’s possible.

So instead of asking:

“Who should I become?”

I’m experimenting with a different question:

“What would the next evolution of me look like today?”

Not someday.

Today.

And then make one decision that person would make.

Because your next level probably isn’t something you need to find.

It’s something you need to build.

If this idea resonates and you’d like to explore what your own next evolution could look like, message me.

Keep climbing.

BE THE MOUNTAIN. LET THE CLOUD PASS. KEEP MOVING.
Some of my trail runs have felt qualitatively different from ordinary exercise.
I think I’m beginning to understand why.

On the trail, several powerful elements naturally come together:

Breath + Movement + Attention + Environment + Challenge + Awareness

I’m moving continuously.
Breathing rhythmically.
Watching my footing.
Reading the terrain.
Responding to what’s directly in front of me.

There’s less room for the analytical mind to dominate.
Instead of constantly thinking about myself, I begin observing myself in motion.
And that’s where the idea of the mountain and the clouds becomes powerful.

The objective isn’t to stop thinking.

Thoughts will come.

Business.
Money.
Rejection.
A problem that needs solving.
Something that might go wrong.

But I don't have to wrestle with every thought that appears.

I can simply notice it:

There’s the thought.

Then return to my breath.

My next foot placement.

My posture.

The terrain.

The movement.

The thought is the cloud.
Awareness is the mountain.

The cloud passes.

The mountain remains.

This may also explain why some of my best trail runs produce unexpected clarity afterward.

I wasn't consciously trying to solve the problem.

I stopped feeding it.

And by quieting the constant problem-solving mind, I created enough space for a different answer to emerge.

There’s a powerful business lesson here too.

When pressure rises, most of us instinctively think harder, worry harder and push harder.

Sometimes the better move is to regulate your state, create space, regain perspective, and then act from clarity rather than fear.

You don't have to chase every cloud.

Be the mountain.

Let the cloud pass.

Keep moving.

If you'd like to learn how to regulate your mind and use practices like this in business and daily life, message me.

Daily Notes From The Climb
5 Summits Evolution Coaching

THE NEXT OBSTACLE: What Spartan Racing Taught Me About Focus

Daily Notes From The Climb

I’ve noticed something fascinating about myself.

Put me in the middle of a Spartan race or on a trail for hours, and something changes.

My mind gets quieter.
My focus gets sharper.
Distractions seem to disappear.

The mission is clear.

Keep moving.

During a Spartan race, I’m not thinking about the finish line every minute.

I’m thinking:

Get to the next obstacle.

Climb the wall.

Carry the sandbag.

Make the next checkpoint.

Then do it again.

And even after hours of racing, my focus can remain extraordinarily high.

That taught me something important:

Maybe our biggest problem isn't a lack of discipline, energy, or mental toughness.

Maybe we're simply asking our brains to operate without a clear enough target.

Think about what a Spartan race naturally gives you:

Clear Mission → Immediate Objective → Action → Feedback → Next Obstacle → Momentum

There isn't much room for rumination.

The environment keeps answering one powerful question:

What matters RIGHT NOW?

And I believe there's a tremendous business lesson here.

We often start the workday looking at the entire mountain:

Revenue targets.
Emails.
Clients.
Marketing.
Problems.
Projects.
Deadlines.

No wonder the mind wanders.

Instead, create your own race course.

Choose the mission.

Then identify the next obstacle.

Complete it.

Then move to the next.

And the next.

You don't run an entire Spartan Beast in one step.

You conquer what's directly in front of you.

That's how momentum is created.

That's how confidence is built.

And very often, that's how we enter flow.

**Stop trying to conquer the whole mountain.

Conquer the next obstacle.**

Then keep climbing.

If you'd like to learn more about creating the conditions for focus and flow in your work and life, message me “FLOW.”

Daily Notes From The Climb
5 Summits Evolution Coaching

What if the goal that feels impossible...

isn't actually too big?

Most of us look at a bigger goal and immediately ask:

How can I do more of what I'm already doing?

More hours. More calls. More effort.

But extraordinary results rarely come from simply doing more of the same.

Sometimes the breakthrough begins when you stop asking:

“How can I improve what I'm doing?”

And start asking:

“If I couldn't do it the old way, how would I do it?”

That's where entirely new possibilities appear.

The Daily Edge:

What would you do differently if your goal were 10X bigger?

BE OUTSTANDING
The easiest way to stand out is to stop looking like everyone else.
I’ve always tried to look at business from the customer’s side of the table.

Take real estate.

Scroll through enough marketing and you’ll see:

“Top 3%.”
“ #1 in my office.”
“Award-winning.”

Those accomplishments may be impressive.

But there’s a question every potential customer is unconsciously asking:

“What’s in it for me?”

That changes the conversation.

Instead of asking:

“How do I tell people how good I am?”

Ask:

“What can I offer that makes someone stop and think, ‘I want that’?”

That’s where a strong Unique Selling Proposition becomes powerful.

And it becomes even more powerful when you combine it with an irresistible offer.

The interesting thing is, you don’t always have to create desire.

People already have lists of things they desire.

A better home.
More freedom.
More income.
Less stress.
More time.
A healthier life.
A business that finally grows.

Sometimes they simply haven’t connected where they are now with what could be possible next.

Outstanding salespeople help people see that bridge.

They don't just promote themselves.

They identify desire, create value, solve problems and make the next step easier.

So if your marketing looks and sounds like everyone else’s, perhaps the question isn’t:

“How can I advertise more?”

Maybe it’s:

“What could I offer that would be genuinely difficult to ignore?”

That’s a much more interesting question.

If you're a sales professional or business owner and you'd like to develop something that genuinely differentiates you from the crowd, message me.

We’ll have a conversation and see what we can come up with.

Be valuable. Be different. Be outstanding.

Daily Notes From The Climb
5 Summits Evolution Coaching

Being busy can feel productive.

Emails answered. Meetings attended. Lists checked off. Another full day.

But here's the uncomfortable question:

Did any of it actually move you closer to what you want?

Sometimes staying busy is easier than doing the one important thing we've been avoiding.

More activity isn't always the answer.

The Daily Edge:

If you could accomplish only one thing today that would meaningfully change your results...

what would it be?

YOUR ETHOS: WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?
Previously, I’ve written about planning, action, fear, and mental rehearsal.
But today, I want to go underneath all of that.

Because before the plan, before the ex*****on, and before the achievement comes a much more important question:

Who is the person doing the mission, and what does that person refuse to compromise?

That’s where your ethos comes in.

Your ethos isn’t another set of goals.

Goals tell you where you’re going.

Your ethos tells you who you choose to become, and who you choose to be while getting there.

It becomes your internal compass when circumstances get difficult.

When the plan fails.

When fear shows up.

When you're tired.

When someone rejects you.

When nobody is watching.

A strong personal ethos or creed answers five powerful questions:

MISSION: What am I here to accomplish?
What is the meaningful work I feel called to do in this chapter of my life?

WHY: Why does this matter enough to devote myself to it?
A powerful mission needs an equally powerful reason behind it.

PRINCIPLES: What standards are non-negotiable?
Integrity. Courage. Discipline. Service. Excellence. Family. Growth.
What are the values you refuse to trade for convenience?

DAILY CONDUCT: How does the person living this ethos behave today?
Because an ethos isn't something you frame and hang on a wall.

It's something you demonstrate through your actions.

STAND: What am I willing to fight for?
Especially when fear, fatigue, rejection, setbacks, or circumstances push against me.

There is tremendous power in knowing exactly what you stand for.

Because once your mission is clear, your principles are defined, and your standards are established, many of life's decisions become simpler.

You stop asking:

“What do I feel like doing?”

And start asking:

“What would the person I have chosen to become do next?”

Then you do that.

One decision.

One action.

One day at a time.

That's how an ethos moves from words on a page…

to character.

And character, practiced consistently, eventually becomes destiny.

So perhaps today's question isn't simply: What do you want to achieve?

It's:

Who are you choosing to become, and what do you stand for?

5 Summits Evolution Coaching