Obviously, with the recent passing of Kobe, all sorts of KB material has surfaced. I knew I liked the dude and fully understood his commitment to excellence and desire to be great... 

That said, I don’t think any of us really get to know somebody until we actually have an opportunity to spend time with that person in some sort of personal setting... Usually, this is not possible with massive public figures, but if we want to attempt to get to know & understand somebody, we can take the time to dig DEEP and digest massive amounts of content in various forms and settings... 

I never had the chance to meet Kobe, but I do know several people who did and their depiction of who he was is very consistent with my preconceived outside perspective. 

Kobe Bryant was an intellectual SAVAGE with an unmatched work ethic and ultimate desire to be the absolute best at whatever endeavor he pursued... Yet, like most of us as we age, he discovered wisdom in his later years that made him realize what is fleeting and outside of our control, as well as what is within our control and sustainable in our lives.

Kobe won 5 NBA championships but realized that those championships have the potential to come and go every single season, and oftentimes, rely way too much on many different uncontrollable factors... 

“Championships come and go but what stays is how do you use your passion and use that to inspire somebody else to create their passion then how can they pass that on to the next person, that is true success.”

What I believe Kobe realized was that no matter if we win or lose, PASSION ALWAYS PLAYS...

If we are able to use our passion to motivate somebody else to find their passion and then that person pays it forward to the next person and so on, this instantly becomes an eternal cycle of sustainable, passionate lives that bring us as close to immortality as we could ever hope for… 

Unfortunately, this dude was taken from us way too soon, but something tells me his spirit is ALIVE and will continue to INSPIRE generations to come because whether or not Kobe is still physically here, his PASSION won’t ever stop playing…

Kobe speaking on the effect of passion instantly made me think about another dude’s emphatic take on passion… Ironically and unfortunately, this quote comes from another guy that this world lost way too soon… 

“Passion is what makes life interesting, what ignites our soul, fuels our love and carries our friendships, stimulates our intellect, and pushes our limits... A passion for life is contagious and uplifting. Passion cuts both ways... Those that make you feel on top of the world are equally able to turn it upside down... In my life, I want to create passion in my own life and with those, I care for. I want to feel, experience and live every emotion. I will suffer through the bad for the heights of the good.” - Pat Tillman 

 

-EB

Just like many people around the world, I was in shock when I heard the news that Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter accident... As the details continued to come in, the story just got more heartbreaking.

Soon after, I got a text from a buddy by the name of John Lukin, who I played baseball with at UCLA:

“The other father, wife, and daughter in the Kobe crash was my baseball coach at Orange Coast College, John Altobelli. I’m shocked bro. He’s why I stayed in baseball after UCLA. He’s why I ended up at Rice. He’s why I met my wife, Missy.  Say a prayer for his family bud. And hug yours.”

As the world mourns the loss of a generational superstar that made a positive impact on so many lives, there were 8 other people lost on that helicopter that seemed to be filled with so much life, promise, and inspiration... 

Memento Mori is a stoic philosophy phrase that is no stranger to the Daily Hustle that basically means we all will die... The stoics were said to meditate on this NOT to be dark and morbid, but rather quite the opposite... The simple recognition of our own impermanence was what the stoics used as a reminder for all of us to LIVE OUR LIVES. 

If there was anybody in the world that seemed immortal, Kobe was it... A 41-year-old, 20 year NBA superstar just entering the 2nd half of his life that already included an Oscar for the film he created called “Dear Basketball.” He was as driven by an athlete and person that we have seen in our generation and his ability to articulate the reasons for his success basically distinguished him as one of the premier motivational speakers we have ever seen in our lifetime. Kobe was the father of four girls and by all accounts, he was just as good of a Dad as he was a basketball player.

There is no underlying message here from this tragedy and no real way to spin it in any sort of positive direction... 9 people with so much life to give gone way too soon and it just plain f*ing sucks...

Just about all of us have dealt with the unimaginable in our lives and as soul-crushing as these things can be, we have no choice but to move on and let it be a reminder that the arrow of death spares nobody.

A couple of years ago I ran across a print at the DailyStoic.Com that is a recreation of an anonymous 1635 German engraving that has a skeleton smiling and aiming a crossbow directly at whoever would be looking at the picture…

In French, the inscription reads…

“Ma flesche (asseure toy) n’espargnera personne

Vous danserez trestout ce balet, que je sonnne.” 

Translation: 

“My arrow (I promise you) spares no one,

You will all dance the ballet of which I sing”

Kowalski’s sick ass loved it so much he even made us a couple of t shirts with the image and quote… 

As the Daily Stoic points out, the print is a representation of Memento Mori in its rawest and most pure form and brings to mind the famous quote in Gladiator that was apparently wrongfully attributed to Marcus Aurelius... But does it really matter who said it? Truth like the below quote is so evident and so powerful that it clearly speaks for itself... 

“Death smiles at every man, and all a man can do is smile back.”

Lets just keep smiling, EB

Just recently finished a book written by John Berger called Contagious - Why Things Catch On.  

As one of his main examples, Berger used the Philadelphia restaurant Barkley Prime as a business that figured out how to create a product that naturally became contagious amongst the masses... 

“What is it, what is it????”

Hey, it’s Stevie SuperSoft! Do you have any guesses, Stevie?

“Of course, it is the best steak ever, the high-end beef of all beefs... The type of meat that can put you into hibernation for 6 months.

A few weeks ago, I had the cool opportunity to be the keynote speaker to kick off the Endurance Exchange Conference in Tempe, Arizona...

550 of the world's most influential people associated with the endurance sports community came together to champion all elements of swimming, biking and running, and I was given the task to start this thing off with a BANG.

Knowing that this was kinda a big deal and because I have a handful of future talks in the near future, I decided that if I wanted to make the maximum impact I needed to take my presentation skills to the next level.

After several years of winging it and just telling stories, I spent the previous 2 months putting together something that would be able to more easily resonate with the audience... Complete with videos, photos and life mantras, the finished product is f*cking awesome and has an incredible flow and dynamic that should leave anybody willing to engage much better for it.

So, when Mike Reilly, the famous voice of Ironman called me up on stage, my confidence in the speech/presentation had never been higher...

My plan was to start with a short, 3-minute video that would give the audience a much better idea about the journey, and then follow it up with a series of slides and a few more videos that really help tell the stories and hammer home the messages and accumulated life lessons... 

When I got up there, of course, the video wouldn’t play, but I had actually prepared for that happening and easily knew that I could flow into the speech without losing too much of the overall effect.

All I had to do was grab the clicker and move forward to the first slide of the presentation...  That seemed like an easy adjustment and great idea, but the clicker that was supposed to be on the podium was absolutely nowhere to be found... So there I was, basically naked onstage in front of nearly 600 people, without access to my entire presentation.

There was really only one thing left to do... 

Laugh

Yesterday was my 44th BDay and I am very grateful to have made it to this point…

In many ways, life has been a flash and I sit here writing this wondering how 44 years have happened so quickly.

In other ways, I think back and reflect on many of the accumulated experiences during my time and it seems like it’s been an eternity.

Regardless, the past 44 years have been a series of ups and downs, but most importantly, through all of it, I have been incredibly fortunate to have been surrounded by amazing people who continue to positively influence the direction of my life.

As I am obviously well into “middle age,” it’s only natural to face the reality of getting older…

I can give you the bullshit cliches that age is just a number, but that’s ignorant and typically reserved for those living on fantasy island unable to face the real world.

I am not getting any younger and neither are you.

Yet, is that really such a bad thing?

I am at a more secure place in my life than ever before, and my entire self worth is no longer dependent on anything other than my own thoughts and beliefs. In a lot of ways, aging has given me an entirely new perspective on life and has allowed me to ignore the inconsequential bullshit while bringing to light all of the things that really matter.

As we continue to get older, the most important thing is to realize the only other alternative that awaits us all… When we are able to come to grips with our own impermanence, humble gratitude often flows through us recognizing the value of the most precious resource we possess, LIFE. It’s typically only then when we are able to come into the now and appreciate the air passing through our nostrils and the beautiful opportunity to live in the exact moment we are in.

I have no desire to reverse the clock, I’ve already lived those years and they were a fucking fantastic mess in the most beautiful way imaginable… I am a 44-year-old, grown-ass man with a lot of dirt underneath my spikes and plenty of scars on the body and a gigantic set of crow's feet to show off with every smile.

Here’s the deal though… I EARNED that mud in my cleats, marks on the cuerpo and each and every fucking wrinkle in my face. These aren’t things that I shamefully carry with me but rather I wear them as a badge of honor that proudly reminds people, including myself, that I have LIVED AND WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE MY LIFE.

Per the late Coach Ben Parks’ tradition that we brought back on my 40th birthday, I have run 40, 41, 42, 43 and just recently 44 miles to celebrate each year and bring awareness to a certain charity… This year, the Let Them Play Foundation is at the center of just about all that we do and any help that we can get from you Daily Hustlers goes a LONG way…

The LTP Triathlon Across America coffee table book is an EASY way to donate with all proceeds going to the foundation and to top it off, you guys get a pretty epic, badass book in return…

The book is off pre-order, ready to ship, and we just slashed the price to $47 and you get instant access to the audiobook, narrated by your truly…

Click here to get your Let Them Play Book!

Many people ask me how long I plan on continuing the celebratory birthday miles, and my response has been the same from the beginning:

“As long as I’m here and physically capable of putting one foot in front of the fucking other.”

We really appreciate your support and assure you that every dollar donated or generated through the Let Them Play book sale will go directly to helping kids get outside and PLAY!

Much Love, EB

As we have mentioned several times before here in the Daily Hustle, there are four essentials in life that we must have access to in order to survive...

Air - Can’t breathe, can’t live. 

Food - Can’t eat, can’t live. 

Water - Can’t hydrate, can’t live. 

Love - Can’t love, can’t live.

Yes, I realize that there are a lot of lone rangers out there trying to call my bluff right now…

Especially this group of Daily Hustling Ultra Alpha GO HARDS that think they can charge through life on their own, totally unaffected by our 4th survival element, or lack thereof... 

You ever wonder why when Grandma dies, Grandpa takes the plunge right behind her???

Yup... Love actually does bite... It will chomp our f*cking heads off if we let it.

Got a good buddy of mine, Woodstock, yes that is his real name and it’s beautifully fantastic... He is an ultra runner with several 100-mile finishes notched in his belt. A couple of years ago, he went out to do a 100-mile banger near the Grand Canyon and it didn’t turn out the way he had hoped... He was a veteran of the ultra game, yet by mile 60 he dropped out of the race, and to this day, it is the only race he has ever dropped out of in his life.

Sure, there were some nutrition issues, but what I recently learned when we were hanging out after the Let Them Play Triathlon Across America documentary in Tempe was that he had NO crew. He had nobody there to help with the physical necessities of running 100 miles, but most importantly, he had nobody there to help support and nurture the mind.

Human beings have been and always will be pack animals... 

As much as we like to believe that we are completely capable of surviving on our own, the fact is that we need each other to survive and thrive in an ever-changing world that relentlessly challenges us on a daily basis.

Not to say that we can’t get by on our own for a short period of time or that solitude is a bad thing at all... As Lord Byron’s famous quote so often reminds us: “In solitude, we are least alone.”  

This definitely can be true, but it is only true if we build relationships and nourish them to the point where we will be able to hold onto the LOVE that has been developed and maintained throughout the course of the years of our life.

Sure, we can go a certain amount of time without love the same way we can go a certain amount of time without air, food, and water... Ultimately though, we must be able to tap into these precious and mandatory resources; otherwise, just like our dude Woodstock, our race will come to an unfortunate early end.  

The good thing is that Core 4 is easily accessible and available in all sorts of different forms.... 

So long as we are willing to put in the work to look for the elements and then engage in the consumption, just as our dude Jerry Garcia reminds us: “We will get by... We will survive.”

Just a few weeks later after his first and only DNF, Woodstock showed back up to the start line of another 100 milers fully fueled and stocked in all of the Core 4 categories, including a crew of people to turn on the shower of LOVE at a moment's notice... 

The result? A PR and the absolute race of his life thus far... 

I F*ING LOVE IT (pun intended.) 

Happy Valentines Day, EB

Building off of yesterday’s “Don’t Cry” Daily Hustle, I really believe we should once again hammer home one of the most important and influential lessons we have previously discussed here at the Daily Hustle... 

Don’t run from change, CHARGE at it.

Although we may not always have the same role and same influence in certain areas of life, as time goes on and change happens, so long as we are willing to continue to learn and adapt, we will always find our personally significant and influential place in the world... 

The key though is our ability to let go of the past and eliminate worries of the uncertain future. When change happens and we are able to embrace it, we open up an entirely new world of endless possibilities... 

When the door at Stanford was slammed in my face, the one at UCLA was wide open... When the Astros offered me half of what everyone else was getting in the round, the A’s opportunity awaited a year later... After getting traded twice and released, I had my 2 best seasons with the D Backs... After baseball, I found so much passion and joy in the broadcasting and the ultra-endurance world that playing ball immediately became a simple afterthought... After running wild for many years living solely for myself, the journey into fatherhood taught me an entirely new meaning of love and has recreated the internal significance of my existence... 

Life changes every single day, and each day, we have a choice to embrace the inevitable or resist it... 

If we resist, we will dwell in past failures or even worse, we do everything we can to hold on to fleeting successes that are no longer relevant... Yet, if we are able to roll with the changing tides instead of drowning in the turbulent waters, we will grab our surfboards and ride the beautiful waves of change.

The swells are changing every day but no matter what, the waves are going to keep coming in so we might as well grab our tool of choice from the rack and surf the f*ck out of them.

Was taking my kids to the Ski Team the other day and I forgot my pass at home... 

So, instead of having them wait for me, I sent them up the lift on their own. Without hesitation, my 8, 9 and 11 years old hopped on the chair lift and poof, they were gone.

As I watched them fade off the mountain, I couldn’t help but realize that they don’t need me to ski them over anymore, and to be totally honest, they probably haven’t for a while now. 

We all go through times in our life where we are significant players in the lives of others. The influence that we have is extraordinary, and in a lot of ways, others are very much dependent on our actions.

Yet, at some point, we are no longer needed or needed in a much different capacity and role. This can often be a tough transition that has us questioning the core of our very own self-worth. It’s only natural to have these feelings and standing at the bottom of the chairlift literally brought tears to my eyes...

Then, as I turned around and began walking back into the lodge, I had an incredible sense of overwhelming pride come over me. 

Three little groms that I taught how to ski and snowboard just hopped on a lift with the utmost confidence and said... 

“See you later Daddy!” 

My pride wasn’t so much that they had no problem getting on the lift and skiing to the other side of the mountain by themselves, or even the fact that all 3 have become complete and total badasses on the mountain... The sense of pride I felt actually wasn’t really for them at all, it was for Tarah, and it was for me.

We have spent nearly the past decade skiing with the kids to the other side of the hill. There were times when we both literally had to carry them on our backs down the mountain and other times when we got stuck at the top with 1, 2 or all 3 in tears because they were too scared to charge down the face... Endless days, hours and mountain mishaps were spent to get them to this moment, yet I think both Tarah and I were so immersed in the process of being ski coach/chaperone/escort parents that we never thought that this time was going to come.

Look, I get it, we probably should have realized the kids were fine to ski over on their own when they started kicking our ass down the hill awhile ago, but I think both of us wanted to hang on to the fact that we were still needed and our role as relevant ski escorts actually still existed. 

Times change, kids grow up, and we are often left to face new realities head-on. Instead of getting sad and letting these moments of change discourage us, let's be grateful that we were able to have had these shared experiences... 

Ultimately, we should be extremely proud that these are the moments that have led to the growth and development of them, and us.

Just as our dude Dr. Seuss says...

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

-EB

As many of you Daily Hustlers know, my Dad was a 4th-degree black belt in Kenpo Karate and much of my childhood was spent in a karate studio where my Dad taught for over 20 years... 

Discipline, honor, and respect were a few of the basic principles implemented in me at a very young age, but as an over-emotional, very competitive young Go Hard, I was often challenged to understand what was acceptable and what was not. 

One of the things that my Dad taught me was to NEVER use any karate moves unless I was in a position where I needed to protect myself or somebody else who was in immediate danger.

That said, when I was in grade school, I had a tough time with the older kids... Many of them didn’t appreciate the aggressive nature in which I played sports or the fact that I wasn’t afraid to stand up to any of them, at any time. 

For several weeks, there was one kid, in particular, that wouldn’t stop taking verbal jabs in school, on the playground, or even whenever I would see him and his friends outside of school.

Bully is a term that we throw around loosely these days, but this guy gave meaning to the term and could have been the poster child of the anti-bullying campaign... 

He was not a big kid, but he was an avid shit talker and had an incredible false sense of security by hanging out with all of his friends, all of whom were a year older than me.

Ultimately, when I was walking to Joe Kavanaugh’s house one day after school, the kid came up from behind with his group of 5 or 6 friends and began to pipe off... 

“Hey Byrnes you p*ssy, you’re not so tough without the teachers around.” 

Knowing that I was way outmanned, I tried to ignore them and simply continued to walk... 

Possibly thinking I wouldn’t do anything because he was surrounded by all his boys, he continued:

“F*ck you Byrnes, HaHa!!!” 

At this point, all his other boys started chiming in, laughing and talking crap as well. 

I realized at this point there was a chance I could be jumped by all of the kids and there was no way I was going to let that happen from behind. I then thought about what my Dad had said about being in “immediate danger,” and felt like I didn’t have much of a choice but to take action.

As they continued to trail closer and closer, the guy popped off one last time with a sarcastic laugh...

“You don’t want to fight me.” 

I immediately walked off the street and onto the front lawn of a house on Shawnee Pass, tossed my backpack on the driveway, turned around and said “Let’s GO.” 

All of the other kids got deathly quiet and then began to encourage their friend to fight... 

Seconds later, the ring leader came flying at me with a gigantic right kick that I was able to snatch in mid-air and then flip him on his back. I put him in a pretzel chokehold and held him there as I eyeballed each and every one of his friends who could clearly see his tears and hear him cry for air... 

When I finally let his face off the grass and gave him back a full oxygen supply, I looked to see what the other kids were going to do and had no choice but to be ready to take on every one of them if they decided to come at me. 

Yet, instead of jumping in, they all put their heads down and quickly walked away almost as if nothing happened... 

I actually remember feeling really bad for the kid... His boys egged him into the fight and then basically abandoned him as he was humiliated in front of them. 

I didn’t tell my parents about the fight, sorry Mom, and I’m pretty sure I was playing tackle football back at Kavanaugh’s house 15 minutes later with Joe and his 2 older brothers, Bob & John. 

For years, I had been harassed by that entire crew,

My Dad's 75th B Day would have been this weekend, so let’s take today to celebrate the dude that really got me into all of this life reflection, motivational bullshit anyways... 

Without a doubt, my Dad was a student of life and failed several courses along the way. Like all of us, he was a flawed human that constantly struggled and worked to become a better version of himself on a daily basis.

Many kids grew up listening to oldies music or sports talk radio while in their father’s car… We listened to Tony Robbins.

When he was turning 40 and going after his 4th-degree black belt, I remember the endless hours of time we spent at the karate studio and also at home studying...

The amazing thing was that he always found a way to involve us in every one of his pursuits. Whether it was practicing his next Kenpo move or sharing the newest acquired Ed Parker nugget of wisdom, his accumulation of education and experience weren’t just individual pursuits, they were family ones.

Ironically, my Dad never played baseball and really didn’t know all that much about the sport…

To this day, legendary St. Francis coach Chris Bradford calls him the greatest parent he ever dealt with in his 40 years of coaching... His eternal optimistic attitude and willingness to admit what he didn’t know were the two things that separated him from the others.

Late in my career, I was with the Arizona Diamondbacks and coming off a season in which I tore my hamstring and shattered my hand... I was in a tough place physically and mentally. We played a Friday night game and I struck out 3 times and was literally getting booed by the hometown fans. Late in the game, there was a ball hit into the left-centerfield gap with the bases loaded and I was able to run it down in what turned out to be a game-saving grab. 

It was a good catch that came at a big part of the game, but nothing spectacular by any means...

After the game, I walked out of the locker room, and to my surprise, my Dad had flown into town and was waiting for me with a big ass smile on his face... 

“WHAT A CATCH!!!!”

Morally beaten down from my physical ailments and on-field struggles, I had already forgotten about the catch and couldn’t get the 3 strikeouts off my mind... Yet, to see my Dad standing there with that shit-eating grin so genuinely FIRED UP about a decent catch immediately changed my perspective.

I had always been my harshest critic and my Dad was always my biggest fan... As I grew into adulthood, I basically could do little wrong in his eyes. One of the many pieces of advice that he gave me when I became a parent was “make sure you catch your kids doing something RIGHT.”

When I heard that one, his parenting style all of a sudden made a lot more sense. Sure, there were times when I was disciplined as a kid, but the greatest gift he and my mom gave me was the freedom to fail and then never once dwell on those failures. 

Failures were simply learning experiences and my parents were there to help me up every time while making sure the ultimate lesson learned was well entrenched and something we could use to help propel us FORWARD...

Because they didn’t dwell on my failures, neither did I.  

Look, whether it is our focus on accumulating education and experience, our understanding that attitude and effort are the only two things within our control, or the fact that all of us need to continue to work on never taking our feelings too personally, Jim Byrnes’ life mantras dominate the core existence of the Daily Hustle, and I am forever grateful for my relationship with him as a father, friend, sensei and eternal teacher of life wisdom. 

Let’s raise one up and pour some out for a dude that not only happens to be the most constant contributor to t...