When Losing is Winning

In 2014 I took second at the world’s premiere 100-mile gravel race, the Unbound 100, and superstar creator and now Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt @blakeoftoday  took third. In 2019, we recorded an episode about that experience that I just re-released.

I skipped the weddings of several close friends and trained 20+ hours per week for months to prepare for the event. 

When I got second, it bummed me out that I didn’t win. When I went back in 2015 and got second again, the consolation prize was food poisoning that left me unable to hold down food for a week after the race.

A decade later, I’m just grateful for the memories I have of training for and competing in this brutal event with Blake and for everything that happened along the way.

A lot has changed since then and a lot has changed since I created Choose the Hard Way.

When I started this project in 2017, I thought the point was to share lessons learned at the limits of human experience.

Over time I’ve realized people, including me, forget most of the specific details that they hear on podcasts--but they almost always remember how podcasts make them feel.

Today I think about Choose the Hard Way as an opportunity for me to practice deep listening with incredible guests who share stories about how hard things build stronger humans who have more fun. 

At their best, the stories we hear on great podcasts motivate and inspire us to take action and be more present in other areas of our lives.

Stories turn into feelings that turn into actions that create memories that stick with us. 

Curiosity and listening are the engine.

Thanks for listening.

-Andrew

Choose the Hard Way is brought to you by The Better Lab. Sleep is the greatest health and performance enhancer on the planet and the science to improve it is straightforward—but putting that science into action on your own can be challenging.

That’s why I co-founded The Better Lab to help guide active people like you to mindfully build personalized, science-backed practices to sleep better that stick.

We’re an early stage startup and right now the Better Lab app is free in the Apple App store. 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/better-lab/id6479452885

Check it out and as an early user, we want to hear your feedback to help us continually improve the product. Shoutout to Hard Way listeners Chris Scott, Jeffrey Nebolini, Shannon Jones and many others who have been using the app to get better sleep and sharing their feedback with us. Thank you! You can learn more at www.thebetterlab.io.

LISTEN: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Google Podcasts | Stitcher

RECENT EPISODES

Author, Photographer & Filmmaker Cory Richards

Cory Richards has climbed Everest without oxygen, been a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, survived being buried in an avalanche and is now the author of the forthcoming memoir, The Color of Everything.

Some people seem to be everything you dream of becoming. And as Cory shares in this interview, everything can be nothing and anything can be the opportunity for presence, mindfulness and connection to who and what matters most. 

COMING SOON

Christopher Blevins

Can’t wait to drop this conversation with the former XCO World Champion, Olympian and Buddhist practitioner. Chris is one of the greatest endurance mountain bikers of his generation and we talk about sleep, mindfulness and the power of helping others.

SUBSCRIBE : Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Stitcher

ABOUT CHOOSE THE HARD WAY:

Choose the Hard Way is the podcast about how doing hard things build stronger humans who have more fun.

Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz is the co-Founder of The Better Lab, the app that helps you mindfully build personalized, science-backed practices to sleep better that stick. He’s also co-host of Beyond the Peloton, the pro cycling analysis podcast. Previously, he was a communications executive at Strava, the head of content at TRX and a journalist who published hundreds of stories with bylines in dozens of publications including Rolling Stone, Outside & The Los Angeles Times.

Copyright (C) 2024 Choose the Hard Way. All rights reserved.


Our mailing address is:


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe