After Addiction and Ironman Failure, This Founder Adopted a Rule That Changed Everything

"“As soon as you stop negotiating with yourself, it's amazing what you can accomplish,” he says. “I'm just doing it.” He sees that internal debate as the real obstacle. The moment you start weighing whether to act, whether it's getting up early, making a call or pushing through a tough stretch, you've already created an exit ramp."

"Rideout's approach is to remove that option entirely. If something needs to get done, he does it. “You get up and you handle your damn business,” he says. The focus stays on action rather than deliberation, so the daily battle is resolved by eliminating the choice to delay or rationalize."

"Most authors would take a victory lap when their book becomes a national bestseller. Not Ken Rideout. “I would have been happier if it made the New York Times list,” he says of his new memoir, Everything You Want Is On the Other Side of Hard. For Rideout, winning isn't enough. The real test is how close you get to the standard you set for yourself, and how quickly you raise it again."

"He says taking the easy road early cost him opportunities, including the chance to pursue an MBA. After quitting an Ironman race, he vowed never to quit again, no matter the conditions. His personal history includes elite endurance athletics, entrepreneurship, and recovery from opioid addiction, with sobriety beginning in 2010."

Rideout believes most people fall short because they negotiate with themselves rather than act. He describes internal debate as the main obstacle to daily progress, since weighing whether to do something creates an exit ramp. His approach is to remove that option entirely: if something needs to be done, he does it. He also reflects on how taking the easy road early cost him opportunities, including the chance to pursue an MBA. After quitting an Ironman race, he vowed never to quit again regardless of conditions. He measures success by how closely he reaches the standard he sets and how quickly he raises it again, rather than by external wins like bestseller lists.

Read at Entrepreneur