Behind the Beard | November 11, 2021

Something I'm Reading:

Currently reading The 5am Club by Robin Sharma. It’s a fable that’s a tad cheesy but overall good message on morning routines, productivity and developing strong habits.

Something I Teach:

“The bar is low for mastery.” In other words, most of your supposed “competition” is sloppy. If you’re willing to invest in continual improvement (one of Open Door Capital’s core values!) and seek mastery, you can beat anyone. So take time this week to go through your business - and look for anything that isn’t up to par. And get it there!

Something Cool I Own:

My son Wilder loves dinosaurs right now, but hates eating. So I bought this dinosaur mini waffle maker to bridge that gap! A hit if you got kids :)

Something I Photographed:

Each week I share a photo I snapped in the previous week. Sometimes serious. Sometimes random and funny. Maybe a selfie once in a while. Just because.

The  season has begun (also in the pic - the swing I have hung in my living room for my kids!)

Something I'm Excited About:

I got back in the water to surf today for the first time in a month! It’s good to be back in Maui.

Also - the first Behind the Beard Live Q&A will be tomorrow (Friday, Nov 12) at 7pm ET! I’ll be hosting it via YouTube Live. The link to join is here - I will also send a reminder text tomorrow before it begins with the link. The ONLY way to join is be a Behind the Beard subscriber (which ya are 😉).

Something I Can Answer:

Each week, I'll be answering one question from someone on my BehindTheBeard textletter! Want your question answered? Submit it by simply replying to this text!

Question:  “What things do you do to maintain a great marriage with your wife?”

Some advice I was given early on in my life before getting married is if both partners give 50% and meet in the middle then you have a perfect marriage. The issue is as soon as one partner gives 49% (or less) and the others at 50% then you have a gap in your marriage.

So instead I take the approach that I’m going to give 100% regardless of what my spouse is feeling like. Do I always give 100%? Of course not. But if I take 100% ownership of having a great marriage, it naturally will make my wife strive to give 100% as well. Neither of us will fully be able to give 100% but having that attitude will always help us in our marriage. If I’m at 80% or 90% and Heather is at 100% (or even 70%), we have a strong marriage with no gaps.

This is the extreme ownership concept from Jocko Willink applied to marriage. I aim to accept full responsibility, full fault, and strive to make Heather’s life better. If you’re not married, you can apply this same attitude towards any relationship or friendship to make it stronger and healthier.

Your Friend,

P.S. Have a question you want answered by me? Reply to this text with your question - I pick one to answer each week in Behind the Beard and do my best to reply to others directly via text.