Since I decided to start building my ideal life nearly seven years ago, I haven’t been a stranger to adversity. I’ve been through the fire once or twice so to speak. 

Entrepreneurship has tested me in ways I never could’ve imagined when I started… but earlier this year may have been the hardest test I’ve endured yet. The stretch of October 2024 through May 2025 humbled me in a big way. 

Ironically, it was also one of the most “successful” stretches on paper.

We hit milestones. Grew the business. Launched a book that took years to bring to life. Rolled straight into a product launch that demanded everything from everyone involved.

We hit best-seller lists. We were featured in numerous nationally distributed and televised news organizations. There was momentum. Visibility. External wins.

But internally? I started unraveling.

At the same time all of that was happening professionally, my personal life also started to spin out of control. I got married to my best friend (which was beautiful) but right on the heels of that, my wife and I walked through an incredibly difficult life event together. The kind that tests your mental and emotional fortitude. I was battling several physical injuries that took away the simple joys in my life like taking a walk outside as well – Murphy’s Law was in full effect. 

And somewhere in the middle of all of it, the pressure caught up with me. My mind was tired. My body started to push back. My joy for the work (usually the compass that guides me through long days and nights) had shrunken to its lowest levels. My team felt it. My family felt it. It seeped into every part of my life. 

We were in a dark tunnel and there was no light at the end of it in sight.

That’s when we started saying a new phrase – first as a joke, then as something more serious.

“It’s Only Day One.”

Every morning, no matter how drained or exhausted we were, we would just ask what day it was – and there was only one answer: “Day One.”

Every setback, every botched email or tech issue or delayed decision. Every disgruntled customer, missed opportunity, or overwhelming task… 

We would immediately reset and reorient ourselves on the idea that it was only day one. And that changed everything.

At first, it was just something humorous to keep us from spiraling and burning out. But over time, it became a mindset and an attitude. It gave us something most people lose in the middle of hard things: momentum.

“Day One” became our way of refusing to drown in the weight of everything around us. We couldn’t afford to carry yesterday’s stress into today’s decisions. We couldn’t afford to believe the finish line was still impossibly far away.

When you’re pushing through a long and difficult period in your life, it’s important to remember that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And much like a marathon, it’s not mile 1 or mile 26 that determines the outcome – it’s how you find a rhythm to grind out miles 2 through 25 that matters most. 

My last post was about “zooming out” on the world to gain a true perspective of your situation. Day One is about shrinking the frame of the big picture and returning to the present moment. 

Focusing on just one task. One conversation. One breath. One step. And one day at a time. 

Because when you treat every day as Day One, you stop operating from a place of exhaustion and apathy. It allows each day you wake up to be a fresh start and an opportunity to push forward and restore your commitment to the goal. 

Day One thinking isn’t a magic trick – it’s a cognitive reframing technique that can help you reconnect with your purpose and find that extra strength to not give up halfway through the mission. 

It reminded me, over and over again, that commitment isn’t something you make once. It’s something you choose every single day… especially when it would be easier or more convenient to quit. 

There were days in those eight months where everything felt like an uphill battle. Decisions took longer. Conversations felt heavy. Even the wins lacked feel good reinforcement. And yet – because we woke up every day and told ourselves it was only day one – we kept moving and kept pushing forward. 

Not perfectly. Not always in a pleasant way. But we moved forward regardless. Day by day. Step by step. Inch by inch. 

There were times when my team and I were overwhelmed and we’d jump on a call stressed out of our minds. Our spirits were drained and everything was characterized by low energy – wondering when this craziness would be over. 

But that simple question: “What day is it?” brought just enough levity to shake the stress off and keep going. We’d crack a smile and laugh. We’d take a deep breath. And then we’d get back to work on the task at hand. 

Because it wasn’t Day 137 of a never-ending launch anymore. It was only Day One. A chance to start fresh with a clean perspective. That’s the real power of this mindset.

So how do you use this? How do you take a mindset like “Day One” and apply it to the middle of a business launch, a personal crisis, or a particularly difficult season of life you didn’t ask for? 

You do it by lasering back in on the here and now. By grounding yourself in the present moment.

You stop trying to finish the story and instead, focus on writing the next sentence. You stop trying to fix everything and just concentrate on moving the ball one yard down field. 

You remind yourself that today – right here, right now – is where winning happens. 

Day One is the tool you use when you’re two years into starting a business that hasn’t taken off yet, but you still need to show up and lead with integrity.

Day One is what you reach for when you’ve lost someone you thought you’d never lose, and it feels like the pain will never pass – but you still get out of bed.

Day One is for the parent or the caregiver who hasn’t had a moment to themselves in weeks or months, the artist who’s stuck in a creative drought, or the person staring in the mirror wondering when they stopped recognizing their own reflection. 

It doesn’t matter where you are on your journey or how far you are from where you want to be. What matters is that you wake up, and choose to start again.

Achieving things is great, but the real beauty of life is who you become on the way there. It’s threaded into the pursuit of the goal, not the mere possession of it. 

Nick Saban calls it “trusting the process.”

The Stoics called it “Dichotomy of Control”

Different language. Same concept.

• Don’t worry about the finish line.
• Don’t obsess over how far behind you feel.
• Shrink the frame and return to the present moment.
• Focus only on what’s directly in front of you.
• Do it with intention and do it well. 

Because real progress doesn’t happen overnight – it happens over long periods of time in the consistent choices made by people who refuse to stop short of the goal. No matter how uncomfortable, how painful, or how slow the process is. 

Most people stop halfway through when it gets hard and they realize they have no guarantee of success. Don’t let that be you. 

Approach every day as a new opportunity. To improve. To get sharper. To chase whatever still gets you out of bed in the morning.

Approach every day like it’s Day One. Another chance to get better. Another chance to start over. Another chance to reset the scoreboard. 

Don’t do it for the applause or the recognition – do it for the results. It’s the only thing that matters. 

And the longer you stay in the game, the better your chances of emerging victorious become. Day One lets you erase today’s fuck ups and wake up tomorrow with a clean slate. 

You may not get all the way to where you want to be, but you will get somewhere. And sometimes that’s much better and further along than you’d imagine. 

As long as you’re still standing, you’re not done yet. 

Keep going – it’s only day one.