"Only the disciplined ones are free."

ONE STORY

"Inputs"

Before the sun’s up in the mountains of Kenya, he’s already out the door.

No alarm. No morning scrolling. Just the sound of his shoes hitting a dusty road with his friends.

He runs every day.

Every. Day.

Not chasing a record. Not preparing for a big race.

He runs because it’s Tuesday. Because it’s what he does.

The training camp is as simple as it gets: A few teammates. Basic food. Shared chores.

This rhythm never changes.

Years...

"Be quick, but don't hurry."


("SpEEd 79" Photo by Ralf Κλενγελ.)

ONE STORY

John Wooden was the greatest coach in the history of college basketball.

Not because he won.

Though he did.

Ten national championships.
Seven in a row.
Four undefeated seasons.

Not because he recruited the best talent.

Though he did.

Kareem.
Walton.
Goodrich.
Wicks.

With conviction, clarity, and a plainspoken wisdom that carried deep weight.


(John Wooden won 10 NCAA championships in just 12 seasons at UCLA, including an...

"Drifting, without aim or purpose, is the first cause of failure."



("Drifting" Photo by Amit Rawat.)

ONE STORY

The Devil doesn’t need to destroy you.

He just needs you to drift.

In 1938, Napoleon Hill wrote a manuscript that wouldn’t be published for more than 70 years.

It was too bold, too strange, and too honest for its time.

He called it Outwitting the Devil. (A fictional dialogue between himself and a character he refers to as the Devil). 

Hill wasn’t speaking about a literal demon.

N...

"The Ego Is Good As Far As It Goes. But It Doesn't Go Far Enough."


"Echo and Narcissus" by J M Waterhouse.)

ONE STORY

For most of human history, the ego was a gift.

It was a survival tool.
A structure we built to protect ourselves.

It helped us get through childhood. Helped us rise early in our careers. Helped us build identities sharp enough to be seen.

But what helps you survive the first half of life can quietly sabotage the second. Especially when that survival was powered by talent.

SUR...

ONE STORY

(Ethan Hawke with Josh Hamilton, Alessandro Nivola, and Frank Whaley. Photo by Cass Bird.)

"Your Friends Can Save Your Life"

Good Friends > Fame & Fortune
Ethan Hawke has been famous for over 30 years.

And perhaps the most important thing he’s ever said has nothing to do with film, theater, or acting. It’s this:

“I think your friends can save your life.”

He doesn’t mean that metaphorically. He means it literally.

When Hawke was 18, he starred in Dead Poets Society. The movie was ...

ONE STORY


("Nothing for the Heart". Photo by Thomas Hawk.)

"It’s Time to Get a New Watch"

Time Travel
In the mid-1800s, railroads exploded across Europe. Massive progress for commerce and travel.

But trains didn't just make travel faster–they broke time itself.

It turns out, before trains, every town kept its own time based on the sun. That's fine when trips took days or weeks. But once distant cities were just hours apart, even a few minutes’ difference became a real problem.

Missed connecti...

ONE STORY

("Gettysburg". Photo courtesy of Matt Evans.)

"Doubt Never Disqualifies"

He Wasn't So Sure.
We like to believe that history was made by people who were confident.
Confident to lead. To speak. To bear the weight of the moment.

But confidence is largely a myth.

Take Abraham Lincoln.
(There are countless examples from history to draw from, btw, so I thought: why not pick from the front row?)

(Abraham Lincoln. Photo courtesy of Britannica.)

Lincoln is, by almost any measure, the most admir...

ONE STORY

(James Dyson. Photo courtesy of Dyson.)

"5,127 Failures Later"

A Better Vacuum?
Before James Dyson built a billion-dollar company, he built a vacuum.
Actually, he built 5,127 vacuums.

None of them worked the way he wanted.

Each one failed.
But each one moved him forward—frustrating, incremental progress he could feel, even if no one else could see it.

He wasn’t failing blindly. He was learning.

Every tweak gave him new information—about suction, airflow, angles, friction, and resilie...

ONE STORY

(Michael Jordan, March 16, 1996. Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

"Stillness Is Strength"

(Don't) Be Like Mike
Michael Jordan almost lost Game 6 of the 1998 Finals. Not because of nerves. Not because of pressure.

But because he couldn’t sleep.

Because he was so wired from constantly pushing himself that his body had forgotten how to shut down.

The night before what would become The Last Shot–the game-winner that cemented his legacy–Jordan lay awake, staring at the ceiling. His mind r...

ONE STORY

("Five O'Clock," Photo by Ángeles Andrade, 2014.)

"It's Never Too Late"

This week’s Moxie is a little different.
Not one story–five. 

Why?
Because many of you are anxious.

Worried about the path you’re on. Second-guessing the choices you’ve made–and the ones still in front of you. You feel like you might be missing something.

But here’s a truth: Most of our heroes weren’t lightning bolts.

They were the result of years–sometimes decades–of quiet, unseen effort. Many industry titans...

ONE STORY


("The Gold Wing." 2025)

Soichiro
His name was Soichiro.

Born in 1906 in rural Japan to a poor blacksmith, he dropped out of school to become a mechanic. A few years later, he applied for a job at Toyota, where he was immediately turned down.

Not with a polite "maybe next time"—he was flat-out rejected. They told him his designs weren't practical. That he didn't belong.

Most people would've taken that as a sign to move on. Not Soichiro.

(Soichiro, 1928)

Instead, he started a small c...

ONE STORY

("The Last Great Race." Image by Martin Schneekloth. 2019)

 "He Didn’t Ride the Horse. He Became One."

THE LONG RUN
For most of human history, running far wasn’t a sport. It was survival. A necessity. A test of spirit wrapped in the ordinary.

The Greeks had Pheidippides (a messenger who ran 150 miles from Athens to Sparta—on foot and without rest—to rally help before a Persian invasion). The Rarámuri ran for days through desert canyons. The messengers of the Incan Empire sprinted...

ONE STORY

 
(The Brooklyn Bridge. Image by Sam Amil. 2018.)

"Don’t Argue with Fear. Crush It with Proof."

THE PANIC
In May of 1883—just six days after the Brooklyn Bridge opened to the public—panic hit.

A rumor swept through the crowd: the bridge is collapsing. Chaos followed. A stampede. Twelve people were crushed to death.

Confidence in the bridge evaporated overnight. Commuters stayed away. Engineers issued statements. Experts gave reassurances. But no one believed them.

That’s when Ph...

We salute you.

You’re not crazy.
You’re not lost.
You’re just ahead.

You’re writing before the deal.
Training before the call.
Working while nobody’s watching.

People might not get it.
Not yet.
Too early. Too bold. Too much.

But that’s exactly why it matters.

You didn’t wait to be picked.
You chose yourself.
You don’t need a green light.
You’re already moving.

You’ve got vision with calluses.
Belief with receipts.
Ideas backed by motion.

The absolute moxie—
we salute you.

It’s lonely som...

ONE STORY

"When Pressure Builds, Presence Wins"

In August 1974, highwire artist Philippe Petit stepped into thin air, 1,300 feet above Manhattan. A quarter-inch cable stretched between the Twin Towers—his only connection to safety.

No net. No harness. Nothing but focus.

For 45 minutes, Petit moved from one tower to the other in an unauthorized walk while police waited to arrest him at either end. Crowds gathered far below, necks craned. Some officers wept at the sight of such impossible be...

ONE STORY

"When Impact Went Invisible"

In the 1960s, NHL teams—including the dominant Montreal Canadiens—had a problem: They were building rosters and rewarding players based on stats that didn't always lead to wins.

Goals. Assists. Penalty minutes. Easy to track—but incomplete.

The players with the most points weren't always the ones who made the team better. Sometimes, the biggest names disrupted chemistry more than they created momentum.

Teams noticed something frustrating: You could los...