One year ago, this weekend, I was deep into the final leg of an Ironman race.
The run.
Completely cooked.
I was dehydrated, dizzy, fighting heat exhaustion, trying to catch my brother Jared somewhere ahead of me on the course.
Part of me wanted to catch him because that had been one of my goals all along. But honestly?
Mostly I just wanted to be near him.
I hoped that running beside him might somehow give me strength I couldn’t feel while running alone.
Today, I feel many of those same strains again… just in a different arena.
Not physically this time.
Mentally.
Emotionally.
Financially.
I’m stumbling toward the finish line of building this house for my family, and some days it feels less like sprinting and more like barely surviving one more mile.
Fortunately, again, I have a brother in the race with me.
Cheering spectators are nice, but there’s only so much they can do!
Eventually it comes down to just you, a willing brother, and the race.
⚡️ F5 Fast Files - Short Summary
Big dreams demand singular focus
You cannot prepare AND perform at the same time
Some seasons require all of you
Brotherhood helps us reach the finish line
🏃♂️ Preparation vs Performance
There’s a lot you can do to prepare for an Ironman.
You lift weights.
Stretch.
Dial in nutrition.
Train swimming, biking, and running separately.
Take rest days.
But once race day starts?
You stop lifting weights.
Because preparation and performance are not the same thing.
You cannot run the race and lift weights at the same time.
Right now, building this house is the race.
It has consumed nearly all of my focus, finances, emotional bandwidth, and physical energy.
And I believe that’s what some meaningful goals require.
Singular focus
👁️ Single Eye
Isn’t that the same concept taught in the scriptures?
“Let thine eye be single to the glory of God.”
To me that sounds like Jesus is saying:
“This will take all of you!”
Not just casually, halfway, or when it’s convenient.
All of you.
Joseph Smith taught:
“A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation”
That’s a heavy statement, but I think it’s true!
More than an Ironman, more than building a house, building a mansion in heaven will absolutely take EVERYTHING!
What’s more, there’s no way we’ll cross that finish line without our brother pulling us, lifting us, and carrying us there.
🏁 The Finish Line
We’ll mess up constantly along the way.
We’ll miss timelines.
Lose momentum.
Get discouraged.
Need help.
We probably won’t cross the finish line in the exact way we imagined when we first drew the blueprints.
But if we consecrate everything we have
our effort,
our focus,
our time,
our talents
then eventually we won’t hear: “You are an Ironman!”
We’ll hear:
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant… enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
🙏
I’m grateful for challenges that demand everything.
I’m grateful for brothers who run beside me.
The physical races.
The construction races.
The races of life.
And I know many of you are in races of your own right now too.
Maybe this season for you is still preparation.
Good.
Train hard.
Stretch.
Learn.
Build capacity.
But once you’ve counted the cost…
once you’ve chosen your race…
Go all in.
Give it everything.
And if you’ve already crossed a finish line like this before?
Turn around and offer a hand to someone else
Onward Brothers,
Justin
F5 Brotherhood
P.S - Check out what ya boy did on The Pushup Challenge with Claude!
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