I had to go to Antarctica to learn these 3 lessons.

25, Feb 2023

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I had to go to Antarctica to learn these 3 lessons.

The Hyperfocused Entrepreneur
February 18, 2023
Read time: 7 minutes

I’m not sure what exactly brought you here.

Maybe it was to learn how to build a business or to invest in real estate.

Then again, perhaps you’re like me and struggle to get out of your own way to stay focused and get shit done.

Regardless of why you’re here, one thing unites us all:

Each of us is here because we believe we have more to offer the world.

Each of us believes we possess a spark of greatness within and we’re committed to finding it, nurturing it, and unleashing it on the world so we can leave this place a better place than how we found it.

Or at least, it’s to those people this article is written.

If that’s not you, no worries. Go ahead and disregard everything that follows. We’ll see you next week as we get back on the topic of making more money.

But for the rest of you yahoos, let’s break down 3 lessons I recently learned from my trip to the end of the world:

  • The Thing You’ll Never Regret
  • Your Capacity Is Practically Unknownable
  • Only One Thing In Life Truly Matters

The Things We Regret

About six months ago my brother proposed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: a trip to Antarctica.

Okay, so maybe it’s not truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it’s certainly about as rare a travel opportunity as you’ll ever find.

But here’s the problem with a trip to Antarctica…

It’s ridiculously expensive.

Now, despite being very financially secure, here’s the truth…

I hate spending money.

In fact, spending money often causes me severe anxiety.

And this might seem like a silly first world problem, but I’m sharing it with you here because assuming you follow the lessons I’ve shared in other newsletters, podcasts, and videos, then at some point on your journey you’ll have to wrestle with this same issue.

For me, the anxiety and guilt stems from the memory of how it felt all those years ago when I’d stare at my overdrawn checking account.

My pursuit of wealth in the beginning was largely motivated by fear and shame.

Truthfully, even to this day a large part of my money-habits are driven from fear.

If that resonates with you, just know you’re not alone.

But also know this:

If you ever sit down to talk to people nearing the end of the road in a retirement home about what they regret most, you’ll notice something interesting:

It’s most often not the things in life we DO that we regret… it’s the things we DIDN’T do.

It’s the shoulda, woulda, couldas of life that most often fill us with regret.

Missed opportunities are life’s greatest regrets.

I believe money’s only utility is in its ability to buy back your time and thus your freedom.

But if you’re not careful, your fear of losing that money can easily become a prison of your own making.

I’m not saying you should just go on a spending spree (after-all, living below your means is absolutely necessary if you want to win the money game)…

But I do believe you will almost never regret spending money on a memory.

Everything else is just dust in the wind.

Your Capacity Is Practically Unknowable

On August 8th 1914, a little ship called Endurance set out from the UK with an incredible goal: Traverse the entire continent of Antarctica on foot.

Many considered it to be the last great challenge of nature to be conquered by man.

The story of this voyage is the stuff of legend.

And it’s not because they did the impossible and achieved their goal, in fact, they never even made it to the starting line.

As they approached the 7th Continent, the Endurance got trapped in a massive ice floe just off the coast of Antarctica and, perhaps more importantly, thousands of miles away from anybody who could possibly help.

Over the course of the next TWO YEARS, those 28 men experienced unimaginable hardships in the most unforgiving and barren environment on the planet.

The story of these men was chronicled in one of the best books I’ve ever read called Endurance which a friend recommended I read while we were down there.

Reading this book while traveling (in absurd comfort) through the same waters as these men was an interesting experience.

There were many lessons to pull from the story, but here is one in particular that I think will serve all of us well as we navigate this expedition called life.

You are capable of so much more than you realize.

I would go so far as to say if you master these three things, your capacity is near limitless.

  • Self-Belief
  • Attitude
  • Grit

The problem is most of us will never experience the extreme circumstances necessary to discover the limits of our capacity.

Through one lens, this is a good thing.

I mean, who really wants to be stranded in a frozen hellscape JUST so they can discover their limits?

Nobody.

Then again… I found myself envious of these men and what they were able to endure.

Envious to the degree by which they were able to come to know their limitations and capacity.

This got me thinking about how so much of the enjoyment and fulfillment we experience in life is as a result of the struggles and obstacles we overcome.

The greater the struggle… the greater the reward.

Now, I’m not saying you should hope to get shipwrecked on a deserted island just so you can experience the ultimate battle between life-and-death, but I do believe there’s value to be had by intentionally doing hard things.

I talk about this in the Hyperfocus Masterclass through the lens of creating a Daily Discipline Practice. This is an activity you perform daily for the simple reason that it’s hard and you DON’T want to do it.

I actually unlocked that module in the Hyperfocus Masterclass. Here’s how you can watch it for free.

1. First, join the Beyond the Apex Community here

2. Then access the Daily Discipline Module here

By consistently doing hard things, you increase your capacity to take on heavier and heavier loads.

And I’m convinced after reading about how these men endured their trial, not with resentment, but with eagerness, that this is one of the highest forms of satisfaction we can strive for in this life.

So why not strive for it daily?

 Only One Thing In Life Truly Matters

A lesson I’ve been reminded of over the years of my entrepreneurial journey is that WHO you work with often matters more than WHAT you work on.

The right partner can be the difference between a project ending in a catastrophic failure or a resounding success.

One of my greatest business failures, in fact, was the result of partnering with the wrong person.

And that’s not to say THEY were a bad partner.

The problem was WE were bad partners for one another.

See, I made the most fundamental mistake when selecting a partner (and it’s one I see SO many new entrepreneurs make that it’s worth calling out here):

I partnered with a friend who had the same vision, skills, and mindset as me.

It’s really the overlap of skills that spelled doom for our operation. We were both good at the same things… and we both sucked at the same things.

And it makes sense in hindsight: we were friends because we had so much in common.

But that’s not necessarily gonna help you succeed in business or in life. What’s more likely to occur is you’ll simply end up in an echo-chamber of regurgitated beliefs you already hold to be true.

This is not a place from which growth occurs.

I saw a fascinating parallel play out in the pages of Endurance.

After 2 years of being stranded, the leader of the expedition, Ernest Shackleton, assembled a team of 6 men to get into a 22-foot sailboat and attempt to sail across the most dangerous patch of ocean in the world.

Their goal was to land on a tiny pinprick of an island that whalers used as a base of operations.

It was as close as you can get to a practically impossible mission.

When selecting the men who would make the voyage, Shackleton chose two individuals that were universally disliked by the rest of the team, but who were the absolute best at their respective crafts.

The fact that we’re even here discussing the story of Endurance to this day is the result of this incredible selection of partners.

And I wanted to share this with you because I’m convinced that the people you surround yourself with will ultimately be the greatest predictor of your success.

Whether that’s business partners, life partners, friends, family, team-members, and everything in between..

The WHO matters more than the Where, What, and How… combined.

Choose these people with extreme care.

Stay Hyperfocused,

AV

From YouTube This Week:

5 Regrets From My 20s

Want to go even deeper?

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