Bryan Ward

Writer, founder.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Be more playful at work. More fun, more creative breakthroughs. There are no extra points for being laced up.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

MANY of the men I work with are getting squeezed from all sides. Cost of living soaring. Faith in government & institutions crashing. Connection to wife, brothers, friends fading. Lights going out all around us. Never more important than now to channel the inner warrior.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

“Too far gone,” like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

It's all still possible.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Courage is a muscle.

If not exercised, it will atrophy.

Exercise courage as often and as punishingly as you can.

And remember: time is not your master. Time is not your constraint.

Time is merely the stage.

It is your courage that is the player.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Create a life of unapologetic largess.

For by your joy we too become joyful:

By your flourishing we all flourish:

And by your self-emancipation we too become free.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Best way to beat burnout at work?

You need to WIN MORE.

Doesn't matter if your "win" is sharpening a pencil, making a phone call, or taking out the trash.

Any win will do.

Get that win flywheel turning, then trade up.

Forward movement is everything.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Pick the project that makes your hands shake… the one you’ve been “saving yourself for”… the one of which you’ve thought “if only I had the heart and drive to take this on.”

And then, simply begin.

Surrender, finally, to the unreasonable pursuit.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

You think you will not have the strength of heart to make magic for others, so you wait for the magic to first befall you, never realizing that is is the ACT OF MAKING MAGIC for others that GIVES you heart in the first place.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Client with brick / mortar biz:

"My biz sucks. Too boring, too slow, too many employees. Need me one of them internet businesses."

Client with internet biz:

"My biz sucks. Too unstable, too always-on, too at the mercy of algos. Need one of them brick-and-mortar businesses"...

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

There are no maps for the mapmakers
No trail for the trail-blazers
No safe harbors for the first ship.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

NOTHING about this Standard American Life is inviolate.

“Normal life” is them taking the staggering, infinite splendor of the universe, cutting it down into pre-packaged pellets, and dolling it out into your trough.

Disintermediate the wonder.

Reimagine everything.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

We are energized by entropy, lit by labor, strengthened by sacrifice, renewed by reaching, pleasured by pain.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

We don't have the innards for empathy at scale.

We aren't plumbed for it (cf. Dunbar's Number).

So choose the small handful of people and projects worth spending your tiny wad of care on...

Then love your heart out.

Go deep, but narrow.

He who cares least wins.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Don't get cute with product names.

I thought "Fire In The Belly" was a clever name for our natural energy course.

Until a friend who runs a 9-figure biz told me it sucked: too abstract.

I renamed it "Endless Energy" and watched conversions soar.

Remember, it's not about you.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Don’t follow your ass (the 90%).

Don’t follow your heart (the 9.9%).

Follow your dread (the .1%).

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

"Fan of X" makes for a lousy identity.

Be known not for what you like but for what you DO.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Achieving big goals isn't just about what you do.

It's just as much about what you DON'T DO... what you're willing to sacrifice in pursuit of a higher call or a longer game.

What are YOU willing to sacrifice in 2024 for the sake of YOUR goals?

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Tend your fire.

Find the ember, blow on the coals, guard your flame.

Protect the fire that powers your life.

No one else can do it for you.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

If I could give you just one piece of advice for 2024, it would be to go all in. Half-hearted measures kill the spirit. We're wired to run white-hot.

[Bryan Ward @bryanrward]

Stop obsessing about what you’ll free yourself FROM and think instead on what you’ll free yourself FOR:

What will you DO when the cage door swings open?

What will you CREATE when the chains are off?

The cracked shackle is only the gateway.