logged
The most expensive habit costs you nothing
In 1998, a British former paratrooper named Karl Bushby walked into a bar and made a bet.
“I bet you I can walk home from here…”
Problem is, home for him was 36,000 miles away.
Here’s a little bit about why Karl might want to do such a thing (and why this matters for you).
A few years earlier, his marriage fell apart. His wife moved their young son to Northern Ireland, a place where Bushby, as a British soldier, was strictly forbidden to go. So rather than devise a plan to sneak into the country and visit his son, he devised a plan to go home…
The hard way.
Why? Honestly, no idea… if his plan was to walk 36,000 miles home, I’m not sure why didn’t just make an equally ridiculous plan to visit his son, but I’m assuming this somehow felt more “possible” than entering a country illegally. Anyway… he made the plan, told someone at a bar, they said it couldn’t be done, and suddenly:
“It became a challenge.”
So he called it the Goliath Expedition, set off in November 1998.
Along the way he faced real obstacles. The Darién Gap is one of the most brutal stretches of jungle on earth. No roads, no infrastructure, 100% humidity, armed groups, disease, etc… Most won’t attempt it alone, but Karl walked right through.
In 2006, he encountered the Bering Strait. Fifty-three miles of shifting sea ice between Alaska and Siberia.
By this point, apparently he found a partner and together they towed 200-pound sleds across fractured ice shelves, swam through freezing water, got swept 52 miles off course by moving ice, and jettisoned their guns and radios just to make it across.
Then Russia decided to throw him in prison for 57 days after he accidentally crossed an unmarked border.
And when they refused to let him through entirely… he swam 180 miles across the Caspian Sea.
Not because swimming was the plan, or because it’s what was comfortable to him, but because it was the only path that was going to get him where he was trying to go. His plan was to walk. The bet was to walk. But when walking didn’t work… he found another way.
Whatever stood in his way, he was willing to adapt to the changing conditions and focus on the final destination rather than getting fixated on the original “method” he chose.
And here’s why this matters for you.
Most people I see struggling to gain positive traction while growing their coaching business online aren’t lacking commitment. They’re simply too committed to a method that isn’t working. They’re stuck using the same content format they’re comfortable with. The same approach to email that they learned two years ago. The same offer structure someone told them to use that isn’t working.
When they get stopped at the border, they don’t ask “how can I change the path…” they just argue with the guards until they’re thrown in prison and told:
“You shall not pass!”
And they just keep working harder on the same path, getting nowhere fast.
That’s why the most expensive habit costs you nothing. Because it’s easy. Because it’s the well worn groove. Because it doesn’t ask you to try something different. Because, it doesn’t ask you to change.
You might swear you want to change.
But then you don’t.
And that’s why the real skill is discipline or some foolish commitment to consistency. It’s about staying locked on where you want to go while staying loose on how you get there.
So if the thing you’ve been trying all last year hasn’t gotten you where you’re trying to go, consider giving the Nature of Marketing community a go:
Your pal,
Kevin Hood