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- Daily Deposits Will Change Everything. (040)
Daily Deposits Will Change Everything. (040)
“If we never peer into our programming then we may end up the cleverest rat, but that’s hardly worth celebrating.”
Bryant Ferate
May 14, 2024
Cascade 100 Mile Ultra Marathon.
I was on mile 76 of my 100-mile ultra marathon. I was at my absolute worst. My right hip flexor was locked up worse than 5 pm traffic on the freeway, my left shin felt like I consistently hit myself trying to do a razor scooter trick (if you know, you know), and I had already been awake for 26 hours.
Pain, progress, tired, still moving, and yes a few tears.
Six feet right behind me was my friend Dirk. He helped me stay focused on one goal as he helped run & pace this specific 27-mile leg of the race from 11 pm 9 am. One breath, one step in front of the other until we made it to the mile 83 checkpoint. I had to make it before 9:30 am before the race organizer’s 9:30 am cut-off.
What rock bottom looked like.👇️
Then there was a momentum shift… Little Coca-Cola, a 100 mg Maurten Caffeine gel, Dirk played a few Russ songs from his phone, and our mantra was “We didn’t come this far, just to come this far.” I made it to 83 checkpoint to see the rest of the crew.
Made it 30 minutes before the race time cut off.
Leaving Mile 83.
Belief Comes Before Ability… I constantly thought about this quote from one of my favorite podcast hosts, David Senra of the Founders Podcast. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but 100% knew it was possible. That belief came from my Daily Deposits. My Daily Deposits became proof that I had what it takes.
So what’s a Daily Deposit… A daily deposit is a consistent intentional commitment to investing in yourself. Just like Twitter, we all love to go back and forth, talking about investing in the stock market, crypto, real estate, retirement accounts, Roth IRA, and more. The key is not forgetting about the most important asset - you!
It isn’t one big moment that makes the biggest difference, it is all the little moments that add up over a long period of time. Stacking actions/habits begin to add up just like when you dollar cost average into the S&P 500 - investing a fixed dollar amount on a regular basis, regardless of the share price - Your actions start to compound over the long term.
In January 2023 I committed to training for a minimum of 30 minutes every day. It was inspired by performance coaches Josh Bonhotal and Brad Scott. Bonhotal, former performance coach for the Chicago Bulls & Purdue Men’s Basketball shared his streak of working out every day for years and hitting hill sprints on Sundays and Wednesdays. Scott, Director for the Atlanta Braves and one of my mentors, shared that his minimum deposit was 1 training session per day.
Why not me? Working out every day shifted into a non-negotiable. Lift, run, jiu-jitsu, walk, sauna, cold tub, and not snapping the streak.
It was about trusting all the daily deposits I had invested in 2023 and all the daily deposits I have put in my entire life would help get the job done on race day. Thinking back I had a lot more Daily Deposits than I realized. Playing sports growing up, Marathon training in 2019, workouts throughout college, all the training I have done as a Division 1 Performance coach for the past 12 years. Every training session helped me stand up out of those aid station chairs, run in the pitch black forest around Mt Bachelor, down Peterson Ridge at sunrise, and with a stress reaction in my left shin (Those last 30 miles got spicy).
People often ask “What was the biggest workout you did to prepare for the race?” Humans are attracted to what was that “one thing”. There wasn’t one key workout that prepared me for the 100-miler. It was the accumulation of intentional consistent daily deposits.
A reminder that I didn’t come this far, just to come this far, and that I had stacks of daily deposits as proof that I will finish.
Here is the last quarter mile of 100 miler 👇️
Daily Deposit Principles
CORE PRINCIPLE 1: Inspired by James Clear’s famous quote “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.” Each Daily Deposit is a vote towards that person you wish to be. A healthier, fitter, better version of me, becoming an athletic weapon.
CORE PRINCIPLE 2: Alex Hormozi has the iconic quote “You don’t become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are.”
Your Daily Deposits become undeniable proof, Joe Rogan has even described it as stacking layers of paint.
These principles helped create the foundation for Daily Deposits.
Define my daily deposit.
What other areas of my life can I implement daily deposits?
Who else is practicing this concept?
Define your deposit and start creating magic. Intentional consistent investments in yourself are the secret sauce. Just like compound interest, it’s difficult for our brain to come to terms with this idea. The concept and those two quotes made me stop to think deeply. Who do I want to become? If I keep doing what I am doing, who will I become? Am I happy with that?
Training and investing in my health is easy to understand. ✅
What other areas of my life can I implement this into my life?
Not one big home run swing. It’s action every single day.
Not one 4-hour workout a month. It’s 20-30 minutes every day.
Not write a book in a day. It’s 30 minutes of writing every day.
Not one moment that makes your relationship great. It’s high-quality daily deposits into someone you care about.
I can’t stop thinking about this from the author, Steven Pressfield. The essay “Is It Possible To Be 100% Committed 10% of The Time?” is such a incredible example of a daily deposit.
“James Patterson was creative director of J. Walter Thompson the mega-ad agency of the fifties and sixties. His dream was to be a writer of fiction. He would come into the office every morning at six. He’d close his door and lock it. For two hours, he wrote fiction. When the advertising day started, he opened his door and became a regulation Mad Man.
As of 2022, James Patterson’s books have sold three hundred million copies.
One hour a day is seven hours a week, thirty hours a month, 365 hours a year, Three hundred and sixty hours is nine forty-hour weeks.
Nine forty-hour weeks is a novel. It’s two screenplays, maybe three.
In ten years, that’s ten novels or twenty movie scripts. You can be a full-time writer, one hour a day.”
Having high agency & being an active participant in your life. The power of Daily Deposits isn’t just to finish running a big race, the magic is in living the life you want to live, being the pilot of your life. Not a passenger or on auto-pilot. Kyle Echenroader said, “If we never peer into our programming then we may end up the cleverest rat, but that’s hardly worth celebrating.”
We must peer into our programming, define our deposits on our terms, and then keep stacking out daily deposits toward the person we wish to become. Make investments in ourselves even when life gets tough, we face challenges, and the effects of compounding don’t seem real.
Define Daily Deposits.
Take intentional relentless action.
Iterate & improve the quality of your daily deposit.
You will make thousands of decisions and actions every day for the rest of your life. Make sure they align with who you want to become. Keep stacking those Daily Deposits and making every day the best day of the year, until tomorrow.
Ferate
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