I bought a full page ad in today’s Wall Street Journal to announce the death of consulting.

Why?

Here’s an inside look at a secret project I’ve been working on for the past year with an extraordinary company (with lots of pics!)

🧵 I rarely write about my work. Most of my followers think of me as a semi-retired entrepreneur (or, even better, as a rock climber) but I've spent the biggest chunk of my career as a CMO.

In fact, I have a nerdy distinction in the marketing world...

Do these 10 simple things and you’ll have a great life: 1. Optimize for experience…

Not money, status, or possessions.

(And the best experiences cost very little.)

A new year is upon us.

There's lots of talk about what people are going to DO in 2024.

But the truth is most people WON'T DO these 5 basic things.

Will YOU?

🧵 1. Most people WON’T show up on time, every time

It's my #1 piece of advice:

👉If you struggle with punctuality, fix that first.

It’s foundational to everything and most people *massively underestimate* the negative impact that being chronically late has on their life.

Turning 40 was nothing.

But 50 hits different.

You start to reflect on life. What really matters? How does it all add up?

Let me tell you what feels good… and also what doesn’t.

🧵 😊Career accomplishment feels good (BUT...)

Through hard work and luck, I’ve had what most people would consider a successful career:

✅Founded & sold businesses
✅C-level in public companies
✅Rang the bell at NYSE
✅Deals with business icons

I'm proud of those things BUT…

If you’re feeling stuck.

If you want more out of life but aren’t sure what to do.

These two threads are the advice you’ve been looking for.

🧵👇 1) How To Get Un-stuck

EVERYONE—from CEOs & celebs who "have it all" to normal Joes like you & I—gets stuck at some point in their life.

But not all of us get UN-stuck.

👇

https://twitter.com/camp4/status/1635974133665398786

🤫The secret is out.

This week I hosted 17 friends in Boulder for a different type of gathering.

It was the first step toward a larger vision—perfectly aligned with my personal mission.

Here’s how it went down (with lots of pics)🧵 Now more than ever people want more than just a great career—they want a great LIFE, full of:

—Adventure
—Deep connection
—Learning & growth

To build a great life you have to be INTENTIONAL. With that in mind, an idea was hatched…

🧵 True Success

We usually associate career success with *accomplishment*, measured as wealth, status, accolades, or expertise.

Accomplishment is a good thing...

BUT

There’s a 2nd equally important dimension to success that is often overlooked. It's... CONTROL

of...

WHAT you work on

WHO you work with

WHERE you work

WHEN you work

Like accomplishment, control doesn't happen overnight. It compounds over years of deliberate effort.

"Comparison is the thief of joy."

It's a popular saying but it's WRONG.

Comparison is human nature — it's unavoidable and within limits can be healthy.

What steals joy is comparing THE WRONG THINGS.

Legendary climber Alex Lowe (RIP) had a great take on comparison...🧵 Lowe, perhaps the best all-around climber of his generation, was once asked:

"Who's the best climber in the world?"

Sensing a trap, he responded:

"The one having the most fun."

You see what Alex did there?

He changed the game. You see...

💥How to Kick Ass at Everything—PART II

This is the long overdue sequel to my mega-thread on health & fitness (link to Part I at the bottom of this 🧵).

Back to our story... After a bout with chronic illness in my 20's I was able to to regain my health & become super-fit (see Part I for details on that)

BUT

When I reached my mid-40’s I began to feel less vibrant, with a collection of mild but annoying symptoms:

📬From the mailbag:

“I’m tormented by my failure.”

We all face failure at some point in life.

Over my 30 year career I’ve had spectacular failures… and there will be more.

🧵3 things I’ve learned about failure:

(#3 is the key to everything) 1. Failure (or success) is a choice.

🙄Don’t roll your eyes until you hear me out…

In any long term endeavor—career, marriage, etc.—some degree of failure is inevitable.

Nobody bats 1.000.

You can't avoid strikeouts but you CAN choose how you react to them.

“Drop Your Weapons"

This 🧵 is very personal—it's been written for weeks.

I'm posting with the hope it helps one person.

My father spent a big chunk of his adult life in prison. He did some inexplicable things that I’ve only recently begun to talk about.

Years ago... I ran across a quote from Oprah:

“Turn your wounds into weapons.”

It became my mantra. I was determined to defy my upbringing, no matter the cost.

I weaponized my resentment and took every hill I attacked. I was unstoppable... and incredibly misguided.

Because it turns out…

It's the most powerful force in our lives.

It turns the impossible into the inevitable.

And we have complete control over it.

I'm talking about serendipity.

Here’s something that most people don’t get:

(I promise you'll be glad you read this 🧵) When you do little, often uncomfortable, things consistently to increase your surface area for serendipity it compounds EXPONENTIALLY, not linearly.

Individually these little things seem inconsequential but over time…

🍻“I’d like to buy the world a beer”

My hot take on the Bud Light ad fiasco.

I’m a 3-time CMO (and maybe the only one to rebrand 3 public companies).

And I have a better idea than Bud's marking VP👇

Hear me out:

(short 🧵) If Bud Light's brand goal is to modernize & become more inclusive, I applaud that.

It's time.

But their execution was incredibly misguided—it amounted to nothing more than a cheap PR stunt and worse…

a huge missed opportunity.

The older I get the more I realize:

👉Whatever you believe, you're right.

When someone says, “I can’t get ahead in this economy”—they’re right.

But when another person says, “There’s never been more opportunity to get ahead”—they’re also right.

Because… It's self-fulfilling:

BELIEFS
dictate
BEHAVIOR
which determines
OUTCOME

Here's the thing:

💍Finding The One

Over the years I've received a bunch of DMs like this one.

I’ve always been hesitant to write about marriage because anyone who says they have it figured out is a charlatan.

I often say there are only 3 types of marriages...🧵 1) Those that end in divorce
2) Those that come close to ending in divorce
3) Those in denial

(🚩When someone gushes about their spouse on social media it’s a strong signal that they’re in the 3rd category)

Marriage is easy during the good times so it stands to reason that…

Don’t Major in the Minors

(a short 🧵)

When I was in my 20’s my dad gave me a simple piece of financial advice that I never forgot:

“There are two ways to get rich: 1) Pinch every penny & save for decades

2) Make a sh!tload of money”

Dad died penniless so I ignored most of his money tips BUT there’s a powerful truth in his statement that I took to heart:

How To Get Un-stuck

(a mega-🧵)

Here’s a true story you won’t find in any book:

About 10 years ago one of my friends won the career lottery—he became the CEO of a multi-billion $ company. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

💰Since then he’s made… …around $10M a year. You can do the math.

American dream, right? Not so fast…

Hard as it may be to believe, my friend is stuck.

I mean bad.

The most fun I ever had negotiating a salary:

Years ago I hired a guy to a junior marketing role. He was a bike mechanic with no relevant experience, but he had an engineer’s mind and was funny as heck.

I asked him to call me to discuss compensation… When he called I could tell he was nervous. This was a big deal for him—his wife had just given birth to their first child.

I asked him what salary he thought was fair. He had prepared for this question:

“Well, to leave my current career and support my family I’d need to make…

Ignore the hustle porn.

You don't have to sacrifice your health, family, or happiness to crush your career.

You can make it all work without feeling tapped out.

Here's how...

(WARNING: Mega-🧵 with unpopular takes) 1️⃣Don’t wait for someday.

We’ve all been guilty of what I call “someday thinking”:

"Once the kids are older...

Once I get that big promotion...

Once my net worth is $X...

THEN I'll build a great life."

It’s a lie. That big goal on the horizon is a mirage.

Because…

🎛️Too many people stick with the default settings in life.

They live where they live because… that’s where they live.

Stay in a dead-end career because… that’s what they know.

Play golf on weekends because… that’s what guys do.

They’ll even defend these “choices” BUT…

🧵 The truth is they didn’t choose anything—they just took the path of least resistance.

🙋‍♂️We all tend to do this. It happens without even realizing it.

We swim with the current until one day we have an awakening (or worse, a mid-life crisis).

My childhood friend's Dad was a psychology professor at a major university. In the 80's he published a book suggesting a link between diet and mental illness—specifically depression.

He was ridiculed in the academic & medical communities and nearly lost his job.

(1/4) Of course we now know that diet & gut biome play a pivotal role in mental health and even neurological disorders.

Even in the 80's common sense and overwhelming anecdotal evidence suggested that my friend's Dad was onto something.