Welcome to the community where together, we’ll dive deep and find the strength to never give up because Great Things Take Time.

If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe and join the Great Things Take Time Community to get content from me every Monday.

Here's what's in today's email

• Is It Really Your Why?

• Moments with Maurice

• Owning Our Strengths & Weaknesses

• What's Got Me Smilin'

• Couch Potato

• Damn! You Put Your Foot In This

Why am I doing this?

Justifications are everywhere. We get asked “why?” a lot. 

By your kids, “Why do I have to do that?”

By your critics: “Why on earth would you do that?”

Why questions force you to have a reason, a justification, for your actions. In my case, it has been “Why do you send out these newsletters?”

This newsletter was not created to give you six steps to the best abs, recipes to eat to make you a machine, or the blueprint to success. I’m not that guy. I’m happy to share what has worked for me and how I came to it, but I’ll never tell you exactly how to live your life. We’re different people. We have to live differently.

My goal with Great Things Take Time is to help teach us about other people and, in turn, learn a bit more about ourselves. This is why in addition to things from my life, I’m sharing some of the community’s stories. I don’t have it all figured out, and I’m not going to have the answer for everyone, but every so often, it’s the most unpredictable source that gives us exactly what we need. Sometimes, there’s something we’re waiting to share, but we just need someone else to go first, to remind us that we’re not alone and to give us confidence to own our story.

You’ll notice that in this newsletter, I often reference movement instead of fitness or working out. This is on purpose. There is so much more outside of fitness, and while working out gives you so many benefits, it’s important to recognize that there can be stress involved with it. Stressing out about squeezing a workout in, if it was tough enough, if it was the right modality, etc. When you focus on movement over fitness, you have a greater chance of all the wonderful things that come with it. You’re not your mile time, your one rep max, your marathon pace, your bouts won, or your completed push-ups.

I can speak from personal experience that this Ken’s job may be Workout, but that’s not all there is to this Ken.

Moving because it makes you feel good is one way to approach exercise, but it’s also a way to approach other things in life. Daily, we have choices to make and things to prioritize. As we plan our schedule for the week ahead, I feel there are four reasons we do things:

Necessity

Some things we do are out of necessity. These are the many responsibilities we hold as humans, there is no opting out of these things. Someone in the Great Things Collective mentioned that they don’t love their job, but they like it because it allows them the ability to do the things they love. This describes necessity perfectly, these things aren’t the main event, but they are required to get you to the main event.

Goals

Some things we do are to hit a goal, like work to retire at a certain age, hit a fitness milestone, or buy the car you’ve dreamed of. These require careful tracking, an actionable plan, and regular check-ins to make sure you’re on track. You NEED the numbers, you can’t just go off of feel. You may feel rich and ready to buy that mansion, but your bank account could say otherwise.

Posturing

Then there are things we do just to hit a number, to posture. We buy things we can’t afford or don’t like so that we can fit in. We don’t like how we feel when we do a workout, but we do it anyway and post stats and social media recaps because that’s how we think we will show our worth. 

Then, there is a fourth option many of us don’t have enough of.

Desire

We do things because they feel GREAT. They fill up our cup, rejuvenate us, and make us excited about life. We don’t care about the metrics or the success. We just enjoy doing the thing. Someone could spend hours painting, knowing they would never sell their art, or display it in a museum, but it feels wonderful to do. I could spend all day immersed in the car world even if I may never own or drive these cars

So let me ask you this: Why do you have your week set up the way you do? Are you doing it to hit a goal? Or are you doing it because you think you have to?

If your run was awful, why was that? Is it because you actually hate running and would much rather be doing something else, but you’ve been made to feel like running is the only way to get a good workout in?

Did getting drinks with your friend make you feel crummy? Why? Is it because you actually didn’t want to stay out late, or because you felt pressure to drink, or because that person actually brings out the worst in you, but you feel like you have to be their friend?

Did you just get off a social media doom scroll because you told yourself it’s helping you keep up with friends and trends, but now you just feel stressed that you need to compete and show-off?

Is It Really YOUR Why?

Goals can be great, a way to continue pushing forward and refusing to stay stagnant. But too many times, we set goals for ourselves we don’t actually care about achieving, it just feels like what society wants from us. We go out for a hard workout because that’s what those around us say they are doing. Is the justification behind what you’re doing yours, or is it someone else’s?

This week, I challenge you to find something that you typically track and let go of the metrics.

Your choice can be a workout, a to-do list, a meal, a meetup, a run, or anything else you put numbers and stats to. Pick it and do it off of feel. Don’t look at the pace, the calories, the numbers, or anything else that will quantify your result with hard numbers. Pay attention to how it makes you feel. 

Be really, truly honest with yourself. Was it hard to get out the door, but once you started, you were reminded how much you like doing something, or did you feel like you were dragging yourself around non-stop, wishing you could be anywhere but there? 

Once you start recognizing what brings you joy, and what just feels like a burden, you can start moving in a direction that feels more authentic to yourself.

It’s okay if you don’t get it right the first time, remember Great Things Take Time.

Moments with Maurice

Each week, my Wednesday content will leave you with a reflection and prompt to share your reactions and thoughts, and the following Monday I’ll highlight some of the responses. Taking things inward is powerful, but sharing them reminds us we aren’t alone in our thinking and that we aren’t all that much different.

Last week, I talked about my relationships with my closest childhood friends and my father, and how they taught me about love in their own ways. Afterwards, some of the Great Things Collective shared their answers to the prompt. I’ve included some of the answers below, and if you haven’t already, I invite you to dive into the reflections on your own.

Upgrade your subscription status to get these prompts with Wednesday’s exclusive content, discuss with the Discord community or submit your thoughts.

It’s easy to showcase our strengths, especially if it’s looked at by the public as being an asset. But being able to appreciate where we have room for progress, or strengths that aren’t what other’s would expect for us, can be challenging. The person who taught me this lesson is my brother, Jason. Here’s a sneak preview of what I have to share with you:

Because no matter what, there is always something to smile about.

• Carrot Cake Donuts: Hands down my favorite donut, while my friend may critique me and say “of course you want a vegetable as a donut”, I’m absolutely locked in.

• The Endless Supply of Good Food: Talk about instant gratification, this dinner from The Naked Dog was everything I could have hoped for. Adding to my list of recommendations for NYC visitors.

• Family Time! Saturday was spent working, but getting to close out the day with family time left me feeling refreshed. While blood family is important, chosen family reminds me that we have control over who we open our hearts out to. You can be in control over where you share your love.

• California: My time there last week reminded me how much I love California, and could probably live there. The fresh air and relaxed attitude release any kind of tightness I feel in my body. Standing in my hotel room, it almost made me feel like I was in the ocean. But this week, because of the relaxed attitude out there, I’m reminded how much the the immediate gratification side of me likes living in NYC, like how I don’t have to wait 45 minutes for my meal. You gotta find the positives wherever you live.

  

• Packing: I have so much more to share about this in the coming weeks, but there is something so satisfying about the chaos that is packing and moving. While it is no doubt stressful (finding a place to move, packing everything up, stuff everywhere), the anticipation of new things brings a smile to my face. Every time I think about what’s to come, I forget all about the disarray that is currently my life.

• Mr. Frankie: How could this little man not make you smile

  

Work hard, relax hard. Here’s what’s had me stuck to my couch this week:

• Monaco Meetup: The smooth purring sounds of this 2024 Sports car meeting are a great way to clear my mind and reset. There is something about the vibration from cars that relaxes me. Unsure if it’s the frequencies they give off, or what, but I can’t get enough.

• Checking out: Time to clear my mind in a different way, smooth jazz music works every time.

• Bleach: Another anime show I can’t get enough of. Of course I’m watching it in the correct way, in Japanese with English subtitles (or no subtitles at all).

  

Food is a universal way of sharing and experiencing each other.

My grandma, my mom, and I have always been the same, it brings us joy to see people enjoying what we’ve made. Because of that, I want to give space for the community to share recipes that are so full of love, it makes people say "damn, you put your foot in this!" 

Each week, I’ll highlight a recipe from the community, sharing the story behind why this meal, dish or drink is special to them. What better way for us to get to know each other better and maybe even cook together?

Ingredients: Pesto

• Angel hair noodles

• Grated parmesean cheese

• Egg

• Butter

• Sweet Italian sausage

• Medium onion

• Spaghetti sauce

• Shredded mozzarella

Recipe

1. Cook noodles according to package.

2. Mix 2 eggs with 5 tbsp of melted butter and 1/2 grated Parmesan cheese.

3. Mix together 1 lb sausage and onion/drain off fat and mix with spaghetti sauce.

4. Layer with noodles/sauce/cheese.

5. Top with mozzarella and bake until melted and bubbly.

Submit your recipes and story here

What To Expect From Me:

Monday’s newsletter will always be accessible to anyone that has subscribed to Great Things Take Time. I’ll highlight moments of my week, announcements, things that have brought me joy, and other things worth sharing. But to bring you even more great content we have the Great Things Collective, a paid subscription level for $9 a month that gets you the following:

• Access to a Subscribers’ Only Discord community to interact with myself and other like-minded friends. 

• Additional editions of the Great Things Take Time newsletter where I share stories from my life, lessons I’ve learned, guest authors, personal growth prompts and so much more!

• Exclusive access to in-person and virtual events. 

• The ability for YOU to share more in-depth with the Great Things Take Time community. 

• First in line to get all announcements, merch drops, and anything else fun I have planned to share with you. 

Thanks for being with me on this journey. I’m excited to see where this takes us, and what we’re going to achieve together. I know this is far from perfect, but together I hope we can grow it into exactly what it’s meant to be.

Remember:

-Adrian