Hey Reader,

I’m writing this from a rooftop bar in Bangkok. Yep, I'm not in Kansas Colmar anymore.

On my 11-hour flight here, I selfishly watched a lot of movies and documentaries, something I used to do more often before becoming a dad. I didn’t plan it this way, but at some point I realized everything I chose to watch circled around the same kind of story.

One of the documentaries followed a young man who decided to cross the Alps without any engine. He moved by hiking, climbing, and paragliding, from Slovenia all the way across France.

Another one was about a Frenchman doing dynamic apnea. He already held the world record for swimming 300 meters underwater on a single breath. Still, he decided to set two new goals for himself: swimming the longest distance in cold water, once with a wetsuit and once without.

What I love about these stories is how intentional both of them are about what they choose to do and how they decide to spend their time.

They aren’t just reacting to life.

So much energy comes from having something you choose on purpose. Something that asks you to think, to plan, to commit, and to gather yourself around it.

Jesse Itzler calls it a misogi. One major challenge you choose for yourself to accomplish within a calendar year. This is not something that happens to you, but something you plan for. I’ve always been inspired by people who live that way, and by Jesse too.

I’m sharing this partly to bring it into my own awareness, to put it somewhere in my memory, and also to inspire you. I'm opening up to possibilities and the idea that I can choose something that matters to me to pour my energy into, instead of something that feels like I have to do.

I haven't chosen mine yet. But the year has just started, and there’s still time.

I’m curious if you already have something in mind. If so, I’d love to hear about it.

Maybe I’ll get inspired by your ideas too.

One dad figuring it out, same as you.
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