In day 4 of this 5-day email series on How to Master Your Mindset & Unleash the Warrior Within, I’d like to discuss the most important element of our lives that is forgotten when we focus on building our identity solely through our work.
👉 If today’s email inspires you, come join my Spartan training team!*
*Enrollment only opens once per year…and closes tomorrow night.
“Run your own race.”
I founded the entire Optimizer program on this single principle. And it’s a mindset I and all of my students practice every single day.
The unfortunate part of this principle is it makes it sounds like you have to also run the race alone, and there is nothing further from the truth. Because you can’t run the race alone. And I’m not just talking about a Spartan Race, I’m talking about life.
We’ve been conditioned by society and the media to believe that if we aren’t doing it alone, we must be doing something wrong. Asking for help makes us sound weak, or inexperienced, or just plain dumb.
What I’ve discovered from studying top performers in a variety of fields – no matter if it’s creatives, athletes, authors, or entrepreneurs – EVERY successful person has a trainer or a coach behind their success (Full disclaimer: I have multiple coaches).
Nobody achieves significant life transformation alone.
Beyond the need for support & guidance, what I’ve also been shocked to discover as a self-proclaimed “extreme introvert” who tried muscling through life on my own for far too long, is that the most important factor that determines not only your level of success in life but also your happiness is your community.
Countless long-term scientific studies on fulfillment and happiness (including an 80-year long Harvard study) have all come to the same inevitable conclusion:
Close relationships keep us healthier and happier. Strong ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, money, or even genes.
In short, nothing is more vital to your quality of life than your relationships.
Day 3: COMMUNITY
Your peer group can become your superpower
Given present circumstances with so many people out of work – not to mention how much we’ve been separated since 2020 because of the pandemic – I think it’s easy to assume many of us feel disconnected from our colleagues and our larger community. Humans are wired to be social creatures (no matter how introverted we think we might be).
In a world where the next few years are all but guaranteed to be littered with massive change & uncertainty (ahem…2024 election is on the way), if I had one piece of advice that stands above all, it would be to surround yourself with a supportive community.
Over the last ten years, my “Sliding Doors Moment” of choosing to run my first obstacle course race has led to countless positive changes in my life such as:
- Drastically reduced chronic pain & discomfort
- Increased creative energy & focus
- Improving my diet
- Higher quality sleep
- Muscle gain & fat loss
- Improved grip strength (which eliminated chronic wrist pain)
- Less depression & burnout
But far beyond all of the amazing improvements I’ve seen by introducing Spartan racing into my life, the most positive change has been surrounding myself with AMAZING human beings.
Yes this “hobby” (I don’t really have hobbies, I have “obsessions”) has helped me drastically improve my professional network. But to be honest, it’s not about networking.
I have a stronger community in my life.
I have people I’m excited to support in their goals, and they are equally excited to support me.
I have people that I can be vulnerable around and share my obstacles without fear of judgment.
I have genuine relationships with people I don’t just consider training partners, these are people I consider true friends.
I have found my tribe.
If the mere thought of “networking” at the next industry mixer makes you want to gag, yet you are hungry to build meaningful connections with likeminded people who want to help you achieve your goals, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more supportive group of human beings than the Optimizers.
Ready to Find Your Tribe?
If building your peer group with likeminded creatives sounds like a good way to distract yourself from all the negativity and uncertainty in the world, I invite you to watch this short inspirational featurette that clearly explains who we are as Optimizers and why we train together.
[Click to view the Spartan Featurette]
After watching, here are some candid thoughts about last year’s journey from fellow Optimizers who could potentially be your peers & mentors this year. I promise you won’t have to run your own race alone!
Who Do You Want to Become 2024?
There is no faster way to build genuine relationships and strengthen your peer group than shared hardship & adversity. No matter what happens with the current labor strikes, the rise of artificial intelligence, future Hurriquakes or Sharknados, or a myriad of other unexpected changes to come that you cannot control…
There is one thing 100% within your control:
→ How you define yourself come January 1st, 2024.
You can either be somebody afraid of what’s to come who’s “waiting it out,” or you can be someone who has conquered your fears, mastered your mindset, and crossed the finish line of your very first Spartan Race alongside your brand new tribe.
Ready to discover who you really are?
👉 Unlock Your Inner Spartan
(FYI: Enrollment only opens once a year)
Zack Arnold
Zack Arnold (ACE) is an award-winning Hollywood film editor & producer (Cobra Kai, Empire, Burn Notice, Unsolved, Glee), a documentary director, father of 2, an American Ninja Warrior, and the creator of Optimize Yourself. He believes we all deserve to love what we do for a living...but not at the expense of our health, our relationships, or our sanity. He provides the education, motivation, and inspiration to help ambitious creative professionals DO better and BE better. “Doing” better means learning how to more effectively manage your time and creative energy so you can produce higher quality work in less time. “Being” better means doing all of the above while still prioritizing the most important people and passions in your life…all without burning out in the process. Click to download Zack’s “Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Creativity (And Avoiding Burnout).”