Hey Reader,
We all love to believe there’s a moment when everything finally comes together.
The day you close the big deal.
The day the company goes public.
The day you hit the milestone and can finally exhale.
Most people get stuck because they keep chasing the peak, instead of learning to master the daily cycle that creates it.
In today’s newsletter, we’ll uncover practices to master the act of greatness.
💭 “Before enlightenment, chop wood. After enlightenment, chop wood.”
There’s a Zen saying I love: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
It reminds me of Kobe Bryant.
In 2012, before the Olympics, a Nike executive flew in to check on the team.
He expected Kobe to be conserving energy, already at the top of his game.
Instead, at 4:30 am, Kobe called him: “I’m headed to the gym. You coming?”
When the exec arrived, Kobe was already drenched in sweat.
Hours later, when the team gathered for their official practice, Kobe was still there.
The exec asked him later, “Why were you in the gym for so long?”
Kobe just shrugged: “Why wouldn’t I? That’s how I get better.”
That’s the point.
Even at the peak, the greats don’t “arrive.”
They keep showing up.
They keep chopping wood.
🧠 The illusion of “arrival” keeps you stuck
Many high performers fall for the trap that one goal will fix everything.
You think: “Once I hit this number, once I land this client, once I scale to this point…then it all settles.”
But it doesn’t.
When you hit the goal, it feels incredible for a moment.
But the win seems to fade faster than expected.
Then there’s pressure to repeat it, to top it, not to lose it…
The mistake is believing that fulfillment arrives at the destination.
It never has.
I’ve heard clients say, “I thought when I got here, I’d finally feel complete.”
But what they really feel is restlessness.
Because the finish line they imagined doesn’t exist.
This illusion of arrival is a thief.
It shows up as that quiet frustration and anxiety of never feeling enough, no matter what you’ve achieved.
It steals the joy of the climb and the clarity you need to play at a higher level.
It robs you of your authenticity, the big vivid vision, your focus, and the ability to unleash your highest potential.
Don’t fall for it.
❤️ Greatness is consistency
The top secret to greatness is not obsessing over being the best, but focusing on being the best at getting better.
When you stop chasing an imaginary finish line and fall in love with the process of refining, everything changes.
The pressure to “arrive” falls away.
The restless edge inside you softens into focus.
You lead with clarity, not with fear of losing your spot.
You’re stacking quiet wins that compound into something extraordinary.
At home, you bring more presence because you’re not carrying the weight of proving yourself every second.
And in your work, the grind feels less like a grind and more like working towards mastery.
That consistency makes you dangerous in the best way.
Because nothing can knock you off when you’ve decided to keep showing up.
A sure path to becoming unfuckwithable and unstoppable.
🤲 The key practices to greatness
Some days will be great, and some days will be not-so-great.
Committing and making adjustments as you go will get anyone growing in the journey of greatness.
Here are 4 simple ways to keep showing up:
- Pick your thing. Not five things. Avoid a bullet list of distractions. Just one thing that, if you mastered it, would tilt the rest of your life. You’ll know it’s the right thing if letting it slide gnaws at you more than anything else.
- Pick a good system for your thing. Systems protect you from your excuses. If your thing is health, don’t just “plan to run,” know your why, hire the coach, set the non-negotiable time block, and stack it into your calendar.
- Surround yourself with the right people. The wrong people normalize stopping halfway, the right people normalize consistency. If you don’t have the right people, pay for it if you must. Join a community or a tribe of people that understands how you feel or think. Do whatever it takes to be around people who make discipline a lifestyle.
- Do your thing for a decade. Ten years is a long game, so shrink the picture. Instead of asking yourself if you can do it for ten years, ask: Can I do this today? Yes, you can. Then repeat the question tomorrow, and the next day, and the next... A decade will take care of itself.
💢 What’s your wood to chop?
So here’s the question.
What’s your wood to chop, and what’s your water to carry day in, day out, that, compounded over a decade, would make you unstoppable?
And even if the spotlight isn’t there, what will you still be building that no one can take away?
As Aristotle once said: “We are what we repeatedly do. Greatness, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
So keep showing up when it’s light and when it’s heavy.
You’re building something greater than you imagine.
With appreciation,
Huw.
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Huw Edwards
Founder & CEO, h3.xyz
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