NOTE: I started this without a perfectly polished idea. I let the words flow out of me. If it rambles, I ask your forgiveness now. I am of the firm belief that any artist must like their own work first. Below has passed that criteria. For your case, take what you find useful, leave behind what you don’t.

As a 20 year old, all I wanted was to get the hell out of Iowa.

Growing up on a farm, the nearest house a half mile away.

Then the University of Iowa…because I was too poor to go to a school out of state.

Finally, at 22, I got a job in Brooklyn, NY.

And as the plane touched down at Laguardia, I told myself, “I’m never going back.”

So, naturally…

I’m moving back to Iowa

Like any major life change, it’s a result of a combination of things.

One: My wife is incredible at her craft.

That was noticed. And when a job came up, she was top of the pile.

Her interview wrapped up around 3 PM on a Thursday. Before 8 AM that Friday she’d been offered.

Two: We played the game on a harder mode than necessary in Milwaukee.

One of the most grateful experiences of my life is being a dad to twins.

But word of warning: Twins are expensive.

In many ways, this is why I say plans are dumb.

We planned to have two kids total. We had one, and then had two the second time around.

I’m a dad to three and wouldn’t change it for the world, but we got to a point where we’d earned really well and thought…shouldn’t earning 2X what we used to be less stressful?

The world said yes, because the job for my wife became available soon after we asked ourselves this question.

We could stick it out and do well in Milwaukee. Simple economics makes Iowa a place where our efforts go further.

It just felt like we’d have moments — and I think all millennial parents feel this — where we had the opportunity to thrive based on our labors, but our location made it feel a bit more survival.

And if our ultimate goal is to leave the next generation in a better state, for multiple reasons, this move made sense for us.

Feeling powerful

I’d consider my wife and I empathetic and passionate. We have emotions like anyone else. But, as Marcus Aurelius said, “You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

We feel deeply. But we never let emotions master us.

I love the challenges of life. I want as many as I can handle.

I often tell my clients, “Don’t be someone who craves an easier life. Be someone who can handle bigger challenges without fear.”

Twins aren’t easy.

Being in the first generation worse of than their parents isn’t easy.

Leaving a career you spent over a decade in to follow your calling isn’t easy.

And that’s why I feel more powerful than ever.

True success is having higher-level problems than you did a year ago.

You may think you’re failing. You may think you’re not doing enough.

But what would one-year-ago-you think? Would they be impressed?

Just like I never imagined going back to Iowa, not only do I not have fear about it, I’m excited by it.

I can’t explain why. But I don’t need to.

Having power over your mind doesn’t mean you planned something and executed it perfectly.

No.

Life’s a battlefield. A series of challenges. Things you never could have imagined having to handle are now right in front of your face.

Good!

Be grateful!

It means you’re on path of being someone who can handle bigger challenges.

This is growth.

This is excellence.

Welcoming these challenges is what creates a powerful mind capable of anything.

I’ll leave you with this.

I’ve been writing journal entries in a Google Doc called “UNTITLED” almost every day now.

I’d like to share what I wrote before taking up the task of creating this email.

If you’ve gotten what you needed, feel free to skip.

If you’re curious about how I see the world in this moment, my promise is that you’ll feel a different kind of way by the time you get to the end.

Today, I sit and I think that my brain is the most valuable resource I’ll ever have. The most valuable resource any of us have. A resource can be used in many ways.

You can use fuel to drive you across the country, to warm your home, or to burn it down. The same fuel. The same energy. Used in different ways from different angles to different purposes.

I obsess with delusion now. I have no doubt in my mind where I’m headed. What I’m meant for. I don’t have the crystal clear picture of it, yet everyday I strive to reach closer and closer and closer to my destiny. To be witness and vehicle of my impact in this world. To become the most useful human I can be.

I struggle with vision. I don’t struggle with belief. I don’t struggle with “Am I useful?” “Will I help?” I don’t struggle with that. I struggle with expansion. “To what degree does my impact extend?” “To what distant place can my usefulness touch?”

I must know.

I’m in the boat, rowing, navigating, conducting hands and shifting minds towards the greater truth that lies beyond. That the most powerful notion on this planet is the belief you’re made for more. Through the ages this has been true and will remain true through infinity.

If I’d type this into an editor, if I let GPT rip through this, it’d tell me to relax my claims. To draw them back. To stay inbounds.

Folly! Ruin!

We ruin ourselves with self-imposed and inherited limits that we should not only ignore but should spit at, slash to the bone, break the bones, defecate on them and use all those primal instincts for good beyond. Never ending our expansion of personal utility to those around us.

But this is a match. One where you and your limits must wrestle and fight to the death. No weapons. No help.

You and it.

And you must win.

You must win.

Your value to this world is dependent on you fighting this daily. Your diligence. Your discipline. Your direction.

What else is there?

The pursuit of greatness requires all and more. All you can give. And more — the help you receive along the way from those who believe in you.

Believe and your belief will create the fact. –William James

You are infinite. You are everlasting.

Resist. Fight. Step forward. Believe. You must not give up.

For your effort will create fact.

And the world will never be the same.

Rooting for you,

Colby