race execution

Training for a Moment You Can't Predict

Michael Phelps won gold in Beijing with goggles full of water. His coach had made him practice swimming blind for years, counting strokes to the wall, so that when the moment arrived, the response was already built. You can't predict when the attack will happen. But you can train how you respond.

coaching

The Coaching Session I Didn't Expect

Have you ever been punched in the stomach by a question? This past week, I sat in a circle with four people asking me questions. I was describing a challenge coming up in six months. Framing it as a future problem. Someone asked: "Why are you putting it at six months? What can you do right now?"

spring

The Early Season Is Everything

I'm eight weeks into intervals that won't pay off until July. Spring cleaning is for rookies, we are spring building people!

racing

The Right Move at the Wrong Time

That's the first timing lesson from racing: knowing when to use pressure as a tool rather than react to it. Pogačar didn't just beat Pidcock on fitness. He read the moment and chose differently than he had before.

time

Why Time is Speeding Up (And What to Do About It)

The first time my world shrank in a race, I thought something was wrong. Couldn't do math. Couldn't think past the next 20 yards. Turned out it wasn't a warning sign. It was a superpower.

consistency

Don't Be a Hero (Seriously)

We glorify the founder grinding 80-hour weeks. The athlete who trains through pain. Then we copy the highlights without understanding the system behind them.

games

The Right Game

Your life begins the day you realize that the only thing standing between where you are now, and where you want to be, is a commitment to doing what's required to change. It all starts with a simple step.

consistency

Boring Enough to Win

The first time you do something, it's so hard. So complicated. The second time, it's marginally better. By the tenth time, you've stopped thinking about it. By the hundredth, it runs itself.

10x

If You're Working Hard, You're Hardly Working

The people who break out don’t do everything. They happened to do one thing that changed everything.

We Live in a Lottery-Based Mental Economy

Your brain is buying lottery tickets all day long. Every scroll. Every notification. Every viral story about the 19-year-old dropout who built a billion-dollar company. You're being rewired to accept outliers as realistic opportunities. Why jump your bike off your house when you can do seven backflips while

Burned out on building community? Read this.

Most communities don’t fail because people stop caring. They fail because we were sold the wrong playbook. We were told that if we just found the right platform, nailed the perfect strategy, or added one more feature… community would magically appear. It won’t. Over the last 20 years,

strategy

The Long Tail of Community

After 20+ years of building communities and watching how people interact within them, I've noticed something that nobody really talks about. I call this phenomenon the long-tail of community.

IRL

The New Game is in the Sidechats

This week marks the 6-month anniversary of my favorite WhatsApp group. It all started when I met a few strangers for two hours at an event in Boston. Fast forward six months, and now I talk to them more than my local friends.

pop up community

Less is More: The Art of Using Creativity in Community Building

Community is about creativity—both for you as a builder and for the people who participate. Learn how to create openings for participation.

community

Step Out and Speak Up: Using the Real World as a Proving Ground for Your Community Skills

The greatest value I see in my social network is in small units of community.

The Myth of Scaling Communities: A Bills Mafia Case Study

Dilution, friends, is community death.

pop up community

The Power of Pop-Up Communities (You're Already a Fan)

Don't overcomplicate your community-building efforts. Just because some venture-backed start-up is charging $199/mo for a community, you can customize to infinity and beyond doesn't mean you need to use it.

book

Announcing My Upcoming Book: A Guide to Building Time-Bound Communities

Full disclosure: I've been working on a book to be released this fall on building time-bound communities.

audience

Know Your People: 5 Ways You Can Outcare the Competition

The key to building a successful internet business is truly understanding your audience. Whether you're building a community, launching a product, or offering a service, starting with your people gives you a significant competitive edge.

learning

The Post Mortem for Solopreneurs

A well-executed postmortem is your secret weapon toward great success, providing a structured way to capture both the successes and the learning moments, ensuring you always find the right path forward.

membership

Game On: Learning from the Biggest Digital Industry on the Planet

Remember those playground games, board game nights, or impromptu volleyball matches? They're all part of the gaming ecosystem, and they hold valuable lessons for building community.

process

The Process Signal (and why it should matter to you)

Whenever you join a new community, you're naturally drawn to the content and the people. But that's not the sauce. If you know what's what, you're really after the magic. The sauce. You want THE PROCESS.

membership

Building a Meaningful Community: Three Key Themes for Success with Your People

In today's digital age, communities have the power to bring people together, foster relationships, and create meaningful connections. But not all communities are successful at such a deeper level.

events

The In-Person Community Test

A real community needs more than just a virtual space; it needs real, tangible connections between people. Practice this skill IRL so you can be better online with your community work.

challenge

The Threshold Community Model: From Confusion to Clarity and Beyond

Plan Community Like You Play Games -- The Threshold Community Model is structured around challenges, a timeline, and stages. Each step is designed to channel the community’s initial energy into productive, goal-oriented actions.