I've been missing in action. For the last 2.5 months I haven't been showing up here the way I want. Those are the facts.
Now there are nuances to it. Recently I've had a few large life events. After months of training I ran my first marathon at the end of August. That was an absolute grind, and coming out of it I felt accomplished, proud, and excited to run the next one... but I also found myself drained.
There's an unmistakable "hangover" that comes after achieving goals you've spent months striving toward. The biggest lesson: momentum stops the moment you do. I'll expand on that along with a few other lessons from my first marathon in a future letter.
Secondly, I started a new job back in mid September. It's been an adjustment, a positive one, but an adjustment. I've dedicated a lot of my focus and time toward getting up to speed and driving results there. Now as I've gotten acclimated to the environment and the role, I hope to utilize more of my focus here.
So that's where I've been.
I've been thinking about two ideas this week that keep colliding in my mind.
You have time, just none to waste.
I heard this somewhere recently and it hit differently than it usually does. We all say we don't have time. No time to work on that project. No time to build that skill. No time to get in shape. No time to fix that relationship.
But the truth is brutal: you have the same 24 hours as everyone who's already done what you're trying to do. The same amount of time as the person who built the business, wrote the book, transformed their body, and created the life you want.
The problem isn't a lack of time. It's that we treat our time like it's infinite. Like we can always start tomorrow. Like scrolling for an hour or binge-watching another show or staying in conversations that drain us doesn't cost anything.
Every choice you make about your time is a choice about your life. And most of us are choosing comfort over becoming. We're choosing distraction over direction. We're choosing the path of least resistance while wondering why we're not getting anywhere.
You have time. You just can't afford to waste any more of it.
The second thought:
Responsibility is about getting yourself on the hook for who you are, your impact, and your influence. Hold yourself accountable for your own joy, confidence, love, and peace of mind.
This one's harder to swallow because it means you can't blame your circumstances anymore. You can't blame your job, your family, your past, or your situation for how you feel about your life.
Your joy? That's on you to create. Your confidence? On you to build. Your peace of mind? On you to protect.
Most people spend their entire lives waiting for external circumstances to change so they can finally feel the way they want to feel.
But what if the work is internal? What if the only thing standing between you and the life you want is your willingness to take full responsibility for creating it?
Not just responsibility for your actions, but responsibility for your emotional state. For your growth. For who you're becoming.
Nobody's coming to save you. Nobody's going to hand you the confidence or joy or peace you want. You have to build it yourself.
Here's what I'm sitting with:
Both of these ideas point to the same thing: radical ownership. You have the time, you have the capacity, you have what it takes. The question is whether you're willing to stop making excuses and start taking full responsibility for building the life you actually want.
This week, I'm asking myself: Where am I wasting time pretending I don't have control? Where am I avoiding responsibility for my own state of mind?
Maybe that's worth asking yourself too.
Talk to you next week.
— Johnathan
