Russell Benaroya’s Daring Life Reset: From Playing to Finish, to Playing to Win

In this week’s episode of the Redefine What’s Possible Podcast, Shanon sits down with Russell Benaroya—an entrepreneur, leader, and endurance athlete—for a conversation about leadership, adventure, identity and what it means to truly redesign your life. 

Russell is the author of One Life to Lead: Business Success Through Better Life Design, and he is someone who has learned firsthand that success on the outside does not always answer the deeper question of “who are you becoming on the inside?” Shanon unpacks and explores Russell’s journey during the Marathon des Sables—a grueling 6-day, 155 mile race in the Sahara desert—and not just what happened in the Sahara, but what came before it. 

This episode is an inspiring story about becoming, the detours, the resets, and the choices that shape who we’re trying to be. If you have ever questioned what success is really costing you, or that there may be a more intentional way to live and lead, this episode is for you. 

If you'd like to learn more about Russell's story, you can keep up with him via LinkedIn.

Transcript

Hey y'all, on this episode of the Redefine What's Possible podcast, I sit down with Russell Benaroya for a conversation about leadership adventure identity and what it means to truly redesign your life. Russell is an entrepreneur, author of One Life to Lead, an endurance athlete, and someone who has learned firsthand that success on the outside does not always answer the deeper question of who are you becoming on the inside?

After building and selling a startup, Russell found himself at a crossroads familiar to so many high performers. What comes next? And more importantly, who do I want to be as I move into it? That question eventually led him and his family to make a bold life reset and move to Costa Rica. It also led him into one of the most grueling endurance events on earth, the Marathon des Sables.

A six day, 155 mile race across the Sahara desert. Come on now. But this episode is much more than business or ultra running. It is about letting go of the need to prove your worth, learning to build a life and relationship with intention, and finding the courage to stop playing not to lose. Russell shares powerful insights on presence, judgment, partnership, adventure, and the daily practice of what it means to win.

the day. There is so much wisdom in this episode. If you've ever felt caught in the grind, questioned what success is really costing you, or sense that there may be more intentional way to live and lead, this episode is for you. Here we go.

All right, Russell, welcome to the Redefine What's Possible Podcast. I'm really excited for this conversation and grateful that you're here today. ⁓ it's great to be here, Shanon. Thanks. Yeah. You know, for our listeners, Russell and I connected at a leadership event in Lake Tahoe this past fall. And as we know, we were on the beach and I was doing the most predictable thing a physical therapist can do, which was working on your ankle. I'll remember that and...

As I was working on your ankle, we were swapping stories and I really enjoyed just hearing you speak about what the endurance world has taught you about leadership and presence. And it was just a moment I'll never forget. So thank you for that, Russell. Our first meaningful connection together to have you like all over my body. mean, that was like a great first impression. was, it was great. And then after Tahoe, I found out that you authored a book called One Life To Lead.

 and I read that book and your to to sell your company and move your to to Costa Rica as a life design reset was just, it hit me and I was like, wow, that's so amazing. I've always dreamed of like my wife and I have talking of to to another country here you just did it. And I followed your journey in your Marathon in the Sahara, the Marathon Des Sables And I remember thinking like,

This isn't just a ultra Marathon story. We talked a little bit and it's a story about becoming, the detours, the resets, and the choices that shape who we're trying to be. So today I'd love to unpack and explore what you've learned on your journey, not just in the Sahara, but what came before it and what's been true in everyday life since then. So how's that sound? This sounds like it's gonna be fun.

That's what it sounds like. Okay. So Russell, can you take us back before Costa Rica, before the desert? If someone met you 10 years ago, who was Russell? What did life look like on the outside? What was happening on the inside? Yeah. 10 years ago in 2016, I was at the tail end of a technology startup that I had co-founded with a friend of mine called Every Move. And Every Move was a

mileage rewards plan for your health. And the application was designed to help people get rewarded for the positive physical fitness activities that they're doing in their life and connect that to their employer or to their health insurance company so that we could start to change the conversation around what healthcare can really mean. And it was a really exciting ride. We had built an app.

We had raised venture money. We had signed a number of deals with health insurance company. And just like all startups, you go through high highs and low lows and the environment changes and you shift and you pivot. And so we had continued to evolve the service or the opportunity as we saw it. And in 2016, we were really at a critical juncture where the question really to the investors and they were primarily strategic investors was we're excited about the path forward.

There's a choice to be made. Do we want to double down and continue to invest? Or do we think that now is the right time to exit the business and maybe become part of the bigger footprint? And I had to get to a place where I was comfortable with either outcome, which is pretty hard to do. Ultimately, the decision was made to sell the company. And so we...

went full body charged into finding a buyer for the business. And in 2017, we ended up closing the deal. So it was both an exciting time, but also a pretty arduous time, quite honestly. And I was pretty blinders on in startup world and startup mode. And as excited as I was, I was also scared of...

of what's next. Yeah. And as someone I've been in business and owned our company for 18 years now. Yeah. And the thought of exiting or selling would be like this scary. I wouldn't know what to do. I'm not in that mindset. I would love to know just a little bit more. Like what were some of the fears or emotions that were going through you in that process? Oh, my gosh. So things like, oh, did I did I do everything I could to to 

steward or manage this business. My business partner and I had separated a couple years before, so that was pretty difficult. Should I be continuing to grind, grind, grind, or am I willing to acknowledge that maybe now is the right time to exit the business? What am I going to do after that? So all of these, without sort of belaboring every point, all of these...

all of these fears around, my gosh, well, what does this say about me? What does this portend for my future? Did I give everything that I could to, again, serve my investors? And it just brought up a lot of, I mean, like lot of challenging, a lot of challenging and exciting questions, I would say. ⁓ absolutely. So you sold your company, then you moved your family.

out of America to Costa Rica, which was a huge pattern interrupt. I'm curious, what were you really searching for in that move? Yeah, well, I worked for a year for the acquire of the business. And so I transitioned to an employee role and had that year to really lean in and support that transition and all the while trying to think about, OK, well, where

where from, where from here. And that's a really in reflection, that's a really important question, because where from here could be very tactical, like, ⁓ what am I going to do next? What is the next, what's the next startup? Or it could be where Russell Benaroya incorporated from here, where do I want to move with intention in my life? And I wasn't fully connected to that conversation.

And the prompting for that conversation really was the result of coming face to face with some difficult and very important conversations with my wife around, well, when we say what's next, maybe it's worth taking pause to really assess intentionality. And rather than being on that hamster wheel of like, go, go, go. Yeah, next thing. Yeah, great, great, great. Maybe reflect on.

like the real foundation that you wanna build for how you make life decisions. Yeah, I love that. And I'm curious, when you're going from that phase, I'm pushing, I'm growing this building, this business, I wanna sell this business, what is going on behind the scenes in the rest of your life, in your relationships, in your health, in your fitness? Like, does that take a back seat? Because everything is like, the vision is, and how did you manage all of that?

Yeah, well the good news, was in the business of health and health and wellness. So there was a little bit of, ⁓ live the brand, right? So I was pretty committed to making sure that I stayed fit and active. And that was not just for the business. It's a real source of energy in my life and probably the most stabilizing source of energy, which we can talk about later.

In other areas of my life, I had two kids at the time. So at that time I had a 10 and a 12 year old, I suppose. Yeah. And my wife was working and we were just grinding. Really, I mean, were just as entrepreneurs, right? We're just grinding. And so maybe somewhat sadly, I can't really think about like, oh, what was the richness or the...

of the bigger picture at that point in time, because I think I was grappling with who, what am I really trying to achieve here? Yeah. And Russell, I think we ⁓ shared this with you, but I remember being a business owner starting off and just being in that grind and like blinders on. We need to focus. I don't know if this company is going to make it. And for me, I worked with my wife, Kelly.

It was the two of us that started it and we got going. And I remember a couple years in there was a pause and we just had this moment. And she looked at me and she said, Shanon, I need to know, are you married to me or are you married to Experience Momentum? And it was just like full stop. Like see that coming? was like, ⁓ And it was a moment to not only reflect, but to like take a step back of like, who am I becoming? we talk a little bit about that.

becoming and I was like, no, I choose you, but my actions are demonstrating that. Survey says. Survey says. And so when you're looking back, was there maybe a nonlinear moment where you felt like you had to like, were in it and you had to like take a step back and reassess like who is Russell being and becoming while you're doing the grind? Yeah.

I learned or took away two very important axioms during that period of time that came from a couple of coaches that I was working with. I've had coaches, business coaches throughout the journey, big advocate of that. Two experiences to share. So one is I had a particularly challenging business circumstance kind of midway through maybe in the earlier side of the business.

And I was really struggling with it. it, I thought it would really said a lot about me. Like it's challenged my integrity. It was stressful. There were financial implications. And I remember talking to my coach and my coach guided me through this exercise, which was very powerful. the exercise was close your eyes.

Imagine that you are surrounded by all of these bubbles that are swarming around you. And those are just thoughts. Those are just your thought bubbles. And then each bubble is just a different thought, a different thought, a different thought. And ⁓ that thought that you're having that is giving you all this angst and anguish and stress. Look at that bubble and just watch that bubble pass by you. Just watch it pass by. And then there's another bubble with ⁓ another thought. Same circumstance, by the way.

same fact pattern, but it's a bubble where the thought isn't about what went wrong or the risk or the challenge. It's maybe about even the gift or the opportunity or a different way of viewing what had transpired. And he's like, grab that bubble, internalize that bubble. That bubble is no less true than the one that you let pass by. And so we have all of these thoughts. We don't control those thoughts.

And what you're getting upset and anxious and nervous about in many ways is a manifestation of these thoughts inside your head, which may not in fact match reality. And so that was just a pivotal axiom of learning that has been super helpful for me over the years. So that's number one. And then number two, had another coach who was responding to something I was sharing most likely about hitting.

metrics, success metrics in the business, are we gonna sell the company for enough, or am I successful enough, or am I making enough money, right, all this. And he made a comment, which sounds obvious now, but took me a little while to internalize, which was, Russell, live your worth, don't prove your worth. Live your worth, don't prove your worth.

You're already, you're already worthy. You have nothing to prove. And if you spend all this energy proving to try to satisfy your desire for approval, that is a very, very exhausting path. So those two, those two things, that storytelling that we have in our head and that acknowledgement and feeling that many of us are consistently trying to.

prove something have really been strong anchors for meaningful decision. That's so powerful. I love the bubble analogy. I was reading a research article and it was about thoughts. How many thoughts does the average person have in a day? And they said in this study, between 6,000 and 60,000 thoughts a day, of which 90 % are repetitive, it's the same thought, and 80 % are negative.

And so, wow, we're having these repetitive negative thoughts bombarding us. And I love the example of the bubble. Like there goes one of my 6,000 bubbles. exactly. That's so powerful. And the live your worth, prove your worth, that's just like full stop right there. Like when you stop to unpack that, like how much do we have to chase? I'm not good enough unless I make this money or have this house or whatever the story might be, like putting our worth in.

That is so powerful. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. So can you talk a little bit about you've now sold the company, you've worked for a year. What did the decision to move to Costa Rica come about and what was going on Russell? When our kids were growing up, one decision that my wife and I made, which I'm very grateful that we did, and ⁓ this is not an original thought, I'm going to credit my friend Andy Liu. I remember he shared with me this idea very early on.

of how to think about travel and life experiences, not as expenses, but as investments in education. And we grabbed that definition. And so as my kids were growing up, we would make the investment that felt like a big expense at the time.

But when put in the classification of education, felt important and worthwhile for my kids. And so we always got a lot of energy from having international travel experiences that elevated everybody's awareness and connection. That was a big source of energy for us. So I'm going to park that for a second. I'm going to answer your direct question. So in this whole milieu of transition from, I sold the business to what am I going to do next to where are we in our relationship with my spouse.

there was a pivotal moment or a story that I like to tell, which is we were on winter vacation with our kids. We were driving back through a snowstorm from Oregon. We were listening to Tony Robbins' podcast, which was titled, Three Steps to a Breakthrough. And Tony Robbins was talking about the three steps to a breakthrough. You can change your story. So we talked a little bit about thought bubbles. You can change your story. You can change your strategy, how, and you can...

and you can change your state. State could be state of mind, it could be state of presence, state of geographic place. As he was talking about some of these breakthrough elements, he said something that struck me and I turned down the radio and I said to my wife in a not so conciliatory tone, more like a critical way, yeah, Melissa, why don't we ever talk about where we're gonna be in five years? And shh.

My story, my recollection is she calmly responded, well, that's because it's never been about us. It's always been about you. And we've been along for the ride. And we've been along for the ride. And that moment really sticks in my memory. Now, whether or not at the time, I was like, that was such a profound comment.

Now it's like totally transformed my life. I probably can't say that. It's more like when I think about the journey that really pushed us toward making a combined life decision to build a fence around our relationship rather than a fence around us individually. That was a really important moment of transition that then began what ultimately was some coaching that we did together and defining what it is we want to design as partners and do we want to design it as partners?

And the Costa Rica opportunity specifically came about because we had a homework assignment, which was go on a first date after, you know, at that time, you know, call it 16, 17 years of marriage. So we go on a first date and like any first date, I mean, you know, what do want to do? Like you're courting, you're learning, she's hot, I'm, know, I'm and And so we just start.

learning about each other and asking questions and like, what's your passion? What are you excited about? What are you anxious about? If you could wave a magic wand and paint your next year, what would it look like? This area of moving with our kids abroad for a year was a really energizing conversation. And we went home that night and we're like, where would we go? Where would we go? And we were subscribers to National Geographic at the time. And on the cover that month was the happiest place on earth issue, which.

had Costa Rica prominently displayed on the cover. And we're like, oh, that would be so great. We like Spanish. We want to keep learning Spanish. It's in the same time zone. And how cool would that be? And so we go back to the coach and we say, oh, we had a great date. It was a great date. We talked about all these things. We got a lot of energy. We'd go to Costa Rica. Oh gosh, that would be so cool. But I got a kid that's going in high school or going in eighth grade at the time. I've got a kid that's going in sixth grade. But it was a fun day. It was total fun day. And he said,

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, up. Why can't you do that? ⁓ because I'm on this professional track and I got kids and social and all these things and.

I don't want to go off the trajectory of entrepreneurship. He's like, hold on a second, right? Like, what are you really designing here? What are you really trying to create? And so he really put us back on our heels a bit and we're like, oh, I mean, I don't know. Maybe we could explore it. And as you know, because of our relationship, we met through an organization called the Entrepreneurs Organization. And one of the gifts of that organization is there are 20,000 of us.

around the world and they're ready to serve and they're ready to help one another in building our lives. And so I called the president of EO Costa Rica. was like, we're thinking we had this great conversation. Does this happen? Could you even do this? And that began this thread of momentum that started to cascade. as you know, there's this, you drop a little stone in the water and it creates a ripple.

Sometimes that ripple catches some wind and that wind becomes a wave. And sometimes that wave is by the force of gravity starts to go down a a narrow canyon. becomes a rapid, right? So that's really what happened. We ended up doing a recon trip in March of that year to assess how it would possibly work. And then at the end of June, we moved. It was crazy and exciting. Amazing. Russell, I want to take you back because I'm thinking of this conversation in the storm.

And I would love to unpack this just a little bit. You asked Melissa a question and she responded, I don't know, Russell, we just do what you do. How courageous of her to answer that way. Do you think that was like when you reflect on that, she could have responded any number of ways. If she would have responded differently or said nothing, would the Costa Rica adventure have ensued? Probably.

Probably not. I think what would have happened is it would have spurred a more argumentative orient to trying to compete with each other to say to explain things like, well, you don't understand. I do all this work so I can provide for the family. And what you don't understand, right? I'm trying to raise our family and build a relationship with you. we're both, I can't speak for her, of course, but I think we were both exhausted and

ready a shift or open for a shift. And what I realized is it was really on me. I mean, if somebody says, oh, it's all about you and we're along for the ride, let's just assume that's true. Then if there's going to be a shift in the direction of that ride, presumably that's on me to redirect. And I was ready to redirect. Love that. And I think when you look at yourself, we talk about what you do versus what we.

how we're being while we're doing, right? So what you did is you and Melissa made a decision, you packed your family, you moved to another country to create connection and experience and having multiple first dates, I'm assuming, but there was probably also a decision in who you were being, right? Like there's a difference between grinding to get a business to sell and then you're not gonna grind in your relationship. Was there a shift in?

who you were becoming that relationship or in that transition to Costa Rica? I think there was a important decision around this concept of build a fence around our relationship versus a fence around us individually. So, okay, now decisions getting made are both of ours to make, and that was pretty cool. So, hey, we're gonna do this thing together. ⁓ we're both excited about it. we're both invested in it. we're both launching this.

start up together. We're both going on this journey together. Just entirely changed the tenor of the relationship. I think it was a very strong signal for Melissa to see that I was taking initiative to create this thing collectively for us. And it...

brought us together ⁓ in a really extraordinary way. Now, this was a difficult time in our lives. mean, we had a 12 and a 14 year old, and our oldest was going through some pretty significant challenges. So I don't want to suggest like, it's all roses. Yay, we moved to Costa Rica and it was some kind of sabbatical. It wasn't like I was still working. I still needed to work. We were living in San Jose. It wasn't like we were living out at the beach. I went to work every day. The kids got picked up for school.

It wasn't about getting away. It was about really redesigning our life. That's awesome. We're going to unpack that in a little bit too. Before we do that, I want to now take us from Costa Rica. And now let's fast forward this decision to run the Marathon Des Sables. And for the people that haven't googled what it is, it's amazing. It's crazy. Russell, can you share what it is? And why did you say yes to this adventure?

The Marathon Des Sables has been going on for about 40 years. It's a really iconic international event that takes place in Morocco in the Sahara desert, filmed on a number of occasions in like documentaries and things like that. And so over the years I've seen these, I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, this looks so brutal, right? So crazy, so exciting. And it's ⁓ called a multi-day stage race. So it's six days, a hundred and...

155 miles with about a total of about 900 participants a year and we paused this for a second for our listeners I want our listeners to absorb that you're in the Sahara Desert for six days and 155 miles right that that's just like you're speaking of it like it's no big deal, but let's just pause six days in the Sahara Desert going 155 miles, that's

Well, it slightly more difficult because you have to carry all your own gear the whole time. So you have to carry all your food, all your clothing, all your sleeping, all your self-care. And so they provide you with a...

with a tent covering at night and they provide you with water along the way. But other than that, like it's all on you. You're packing that, you're carrying that while you're doing this. right. Which is crazy. How did that happen? Well, when I was, I'm 51, so when I was turning 50, my wife gave me a book.

We were in at a wedding in Mexico. She gave me this book and the book title was You Only Die Once. You Only Die Once. And what was striking about that book that I recall is it quantified the number of Mondays you have left in your life based on like the average age of when people pass away. And I'm like, wow, boy, I see that. Like that was very real for me. So I'm reading this book.

Okay, I'm reading this. And I'm thinking about another book that had been given to me by a friend of mine so much earlier called The Comfort Crisis, The Comfort Crisis. And it is what you would suspect it to be. It's really a book about how we're all getting managed to comfort in our lives and not pushing against possibility. And there's a term in this that's brought out in this book called a Misogi, M-I-S-O-G-I. And a Misogi...

The concept of a Misogi is to really do hard things and it's to do something that is beyond what you think is possible or like a likely finish or success. And basically the rule set around it is find something incredibly hard to do. Don't die, don't die. Have a 50 % chance of.

being successful and don't do it because you're like trying to build a social media following and be like an influencer, right? Do it for you, do intrinsically. So the Comfort Crisis meets You Only Die Once, meets I've always wanted to do the Marathon Des Sables meets registering for the Marathon Des Sables.

and setting my 2025. I have a 26 Misogi but that was my 25. That was my 25. And I want to hear more about 26 too, but yeah, we're continue. So tell me about the training, the mental preparation. What was that demand like? I'm trying to like comprehend all of that. Yeah. I mean, I've been running for a long time. Ultra running has been a source of

tremendous growth for me on many levels and I appreciate the effort of endurance training and all that it portends around mental sharpness, physical ability, hydration, nutrition, self-care, like all these aspects kind of converge, if you will.

those types of distances. so I had a training plan. I was running somewhere between 50 to 75 miles a week. I was training with my pack on. what I have, for me, what I figured out in my life is I can integrate that type of training very early in the morning, like before the family wakes up. And I would say what I appreciate more than anything is that my wife has realized how important it is.

for my health and my mental health, that she's a big supporter of it. So has been able to help create the space for me. And yeah, I mean, I would say it was about five months, five months of pretty disciplined training for that event. And I went over there by myself, which I was also excited to do and just had a crazy adventure. Let's dive into that a little bit. Now I've...

You've talked about this tension between playing not to lose and playing to win. When you're in the desert, what did playing not to lose look like for you? And when did you feel the switch flip? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I would say a lot of these events for me tend to, I tend to enter them with a play not to lose. I'm not super proud of that. It's like, they're very long and I really just want to finish. And so I don't, what?

I aspire to finishing. I don't necessarily aspire to, like, I need to be a super high performer. So I kind of finish middle of the package. What was cool about the Marathon Des Sables is because you repeated the activity essentially every day, varying distances. The frequency of that activity allowed...

me to start seeing some patterns or really connecting differently to my headspace and my body. I remember after the third day, I realized that, hold on a second, I'm actually feeling pretty good. I'm feeling surprisingly strong. I'm passing a few folks. I'm feeling confident. Why am I here to just finish? Why aren't I here to compete? Why aren't I here to win my...

race and so the last three days of the run I yeah I just had this this realization that I can be a competitor like I can I can get after it I can I can really perform and that that was a just a really helpful moment for me and I think in a lot of areas of my life like I sort of like I want to get to the finish like

I want to build this company and I want to exit the company or I want to do this event and I just want to finish. But for what? Like to like say that I did it or if I want to create the container and train for it, like, like go for it, go for it with the risk that you may not finish, that you may not finish, but you're, you're competing, right? You're going for it. And that was a

That was probably my number one takeaway from that event that I've tried to carry. I'm getting fired up just listening to that right now. I'm like, let's go compete. I'm ready to do something. Ready. We can exit. What does it mean to win? Everybody's definition is different. There's no- Yeah. Yes. For someone who's listening and they feel like maybe they're playing not to lose, do you have maybe a small experiment they could try this week to flip their switch? Well, I'll say one thing that has been firing me up lately. Well, two things have been firing me up.

One is I have a good friend, Matt Soury, who you know from EL, and he said something a few months ago that's been really inspiring every day for me. He shared a personal experience. And his motivation going into every day was win the day. Win the day. What does it mean to win the day today? And what if you started every morning with that mantra? I'm gonna win the day. So that's been easy and motivating. It's number one. Number two.

Find somebody else in your life could be a mentor, could be a peer where you both agree to support each other and keep each other fired up. Like I've got a friend who left a voicemail on my phone a few weeks ago. His voicemail was, my gosh Russell, I'm so excited for this year. I can barely see. Like it was so, it was so awesome and so genuine by the way. And I'm like, that is awesome. I want that energy. I'm going to pick up that energy.

Right. then I'm going to shoot it back to you and like, just keep riffing on that. So a lot of it is just, it's just state of mind. Absolutely. I love that. I'm going to take that from Matt and you as well. What, am going to, what does it mean for me to win the day? That's such a different reframe. That's fantastic. Thank you for that. So Russell, correct me or not, you almost brought your phone on this race, but then you decided to go off grid. Is that correct? I did. Yeah.

put it in the suitcase before we had to hand it into the organizers. What shifted for you to choose that simplicity? No phone, again, fewer comforts, doing hard things. What was it in that moment? Yeah, I went over there with the intention of presence being in the moment. And I'm generally terrible at that. going back to something you said earlier that your wife said to you, and I said, survey says, right? Well, you can say.

that's important to me and I want to be in the moment. But are you doing the things that are a forcing function for that to happen? I want to be like, I put my phone away. That's like some big deal. But it was a small thing that had a big impact. yeah, throughout the week, quite candidly, just just doing a full digital detox. And once you get through a stage, you have many hours before your next race. And so what would many of us do?

probably we'd be on our phone. Maybe we'd read a book, but I didn't have space in my pack for that. So I was just, I just sat there and I just laid down and it was, it was quiet. And that was very, very cleansing for me. And I came back deciding that I am not going to look at news sites. I'm not gonna look at news sites because I'm gonna get the information that I need from others. Cause everybody likes to talk about like what's going on in the world.

And so I went on this multi-month detox of like all just like doom scroll 24 seven news cycle and news sites. And it was really liberating, like focus on the things that I can control. I can't control those things. I can only control the things within my domain. And that's where I'm going to put my energy. I could benefit from a Digitox myself. That's so inspiring. Me too, again, by the way, right? I think it's a thread. definitely. So in this race,

Six days, 155 miles. You're surrounded by hundreds of people, but you describe this as a very personal journey. Can you tell us about the bivouac tent and strangers you ended up with and just the connection that showed throughout that? Yeah, I mean, listen, there's a lot of community in that race, but everybody's there for a reason. mean, everybody's there to accomplish something for themselves.

Some people come with a lot of presence and humility and some people come with a lot of ego and it's an international group. And so it's just of complexity and curiosity. so, yeah, I mean, for me, was, I was there. I was there to do something.

for me. Like I wasn't, I wasn't trying to prove anything to anybody else. Like I didn't need to beat anybody else. I was competitive, right? But that's not like what I was, I wasn't trying to beat my tentmates. And so even though we were all very close together in sort of a living situation, everybody was just on their own program. There was a lot to attend to on a daily basis. And there was a lot of respect to give space for people to do what they needed to do without

judgment. Like, sure, were people doing something that was like, I'm not sure I'd do that? Well, probably. Did I really care? No, that's what they're doing. Great. Good for them. That's great. Did you develop any connections on the race? Oh, yeah. It's the cool thing about doing hard things with people either that you know or don't know. Fast friendships are so special. And so this group that I was in a tent with, I was just on WhatsApp with them this morning and we continue to cheer each other.

on and support one another and whether it be progress that they're making in their profession or continued progress and cool physical activities. It's amazing what happens over a very short period of time when you bring a group of people to lock arms and do something really hard together. It's just a good reminder how friendships get built and as adults, we don't have as much of that opportunity and we do when we're younger because we have sports or we're playing tag or we're getting into trouble together, right? Those are moments.

but moments as adults is a little bit harder. So I felt, yeah, it was really appreciative of that. Love that, love that. There's a quote that says, strangers are just, they're potential new friends that I haven't met yet, right? Yeah. And so, yeah, I'm sure in that circumstance, going through that together, that experience together, it's individually, but together, there's gotta be this bond that's being formed. That's really cool. Russell, one of my favorite images from your writing is being the leaf.

Letting the current carry you instead of trying to control everything. Can you tell the story of your coach and the leaf in the stream and how that came to be your theme for the book? Yeah, sure. Yeah, I was seeing a coach and this was a business coach, but not in the traditional like, build a business strategy and how are you doing with your key performance indicators and do you have the right team in place? It was more like.

How are you managing your thoughts, essentially? And what is it that's coming up for you that's giving you some angst? And where is that coming from? And why is that happening?

And I remember we were walking down to this little stream one day and we were sitting on the bench and I was talking about like an arduous work circumstance. And he pointed to the, he pointed to this dry leaf that was floating down the stream. like, you see that leaf? You see that leaf there? That leaf is going to move down the stream because the stream is moving, right? It's just laying on it. It's not trying to fight. It's not trying to fight.

the current, what if you were that leaf? Just let it, just let go, like ride with it. You spend so much time wanting to control things or manipulate, right? And I don't mean manipulate in a bad way, like sort of manipulate a direct, what if you just let go? And that's been a phenomenal.

image for me over the last several months. And I've had a number of instances where I'm like, okay, be the leaf. And it's amazing what happens inside my body when I'm like, okay, I'm to be the leaf. I get lighter, I get more creative, I can laugh more. And generally, I get to a better outcome. Absolutely. That really resonates with me. I love just the concept of water just like pushing you down, pushing you through life.

I'm curious on the race, how did you practically be the leaf? What did you focus on instead of pace or distance or what was that experience like? I think it was not rushing the moment and being appreciative that I was in this geography and you look around and you're like, ⁓ my gosh, this is the most barren, beautiful.

raw, foreign for me, place that I've ever been. Don't just keep your head down because you want to get to the finish line, right? What is the finish line? Obviously there's one in a race, but like in the bigger sense of it, it's like, just enjoy being in this place. Just listen to your body and just let it roll and be light. And if you feel like going for it, go for it. But nobody's...

making you do anything. Just be the leaf. Be the leaf. Love that. All right, Russell, I want to talk about judging. Judging others, judging yourself. And I believe you had this insight about judgment, this internal dialogue of how bad ass is this event if anyone can really do it? Can you walk us through the moment you realized your judgment of others was really a mirror? Yeah. Yeah. mean, judgments. Judgments takes a lot of energy, right? We spend a lot of time judging because it's all a

about like, who are we in relation to this thing? And judgment allows us to fuel our ego and our ego's like, yes, judge, judge away, judge away. But the real unlock for me was a real magical moment in.

in these events, which is called the golden hour. And the golden hour is that last hour before the cutoff time, where if you do not finish in time, you will be disqualified from the race. And so what happens in that last hour every day, what happens in that last hour is people are coming over the finish line just barely. And it was so rewarding to go out to the finish line in that last hour and watch who was coming over the finish line.

And the commitment that they made to stay out there for that many hours to overcome what might have been an injury on the trail, to overcome a health condition that they'd been fighting for years and then finally stepped into this Misogi ⁓ to overcome some trauma, to just be able to be in this moment, in this place. And I'm like, wait a second, what am I judging? Like, why aren't we all celebrating that all of us are on our own Marathon?

And it's not a zero sum game. It's not like I get, like I try to take energy. It's, there's a massive amount for all of us to rise if we let go of judgment. And it was just an important reminder for me that I find myself oftentimes living in a place of judgment. just like sort of a default thing that can happen. And I appreciated getting a little dose of

a good reminder. Absolutely. I feel like as humans we're just judging making machines. It's just you have to come up with some strategy otherwise I mean everyone that comes in front of you there's like this like where do they rank here this person looks like they're mean I'm not gonna talk to them then you say something to them and they're like the sweetest person you've ever conversed with and it's like wow I was just an ass for having this thought about them so...

It's for real. All right, Russell. So you've finished this event and you've said the Marathon des Sables is a life event that includes running. Endurance is everything you do after the finish line. I'm curious, what became clear for you in the week or so after the race? What was that like? the week or so after the race, was riding super high. Like I was full of confidence and...

accomplishment and courage. And the cool thing about that is it's a euphoric feeling. The risk of that is that it tails off and so then maybe earns pursuit.

like the next thing. And I think there's something that's healthy about that. It's nice to be in pursuit of something. It's fun to be in pursuit of something for the right reasons. the learning edge or maybe the work is, well, what was it that had you feeling so light and energized and confident at being the leaf? And what keeps you from sustaining that feeling? And I'll get back to...

the win the day idea, which is well, it's because I forget that every day is a new event, is a new opportunity, is a new chance for growth, is a new chance to be energized, is a new chance to be confident that you, you you made a decision, you built a plan, you inspired somebody to be better than they thought possible. And with a race is very easy because that's the entire intent of accomplishing it, but it's really a, it's really a.

metaphor and so I think the work for me is to look ahead and be excited about that next gig, but not use it as a way to continue to stroke my ego, but use it as a way for me to authentically live the life that I want to create. That's beautiful. Russell, we've heard about this story of the Marathon Des Sables. It's absolutely amazing. It's inspired me. A number of things are sticking out to me. Win the day.

That's such a powerful concept. Judging. Gosh, we got to keep judging people. How can we address that? I want to be the leaf and just not resist what is. Russell, I'd like to finish this up with a rapid fire. Six questions as fast as you can. Don't think too much over them. But what is one belief that you've outgrown in the last five years? That I have something that I need to prove. Beautiful. When you notice

Playing not to lose. What is your fastest reset? Writing. What is a non-negotiable principle you protect now, even when the productive option looks tempting? Speak with candor, my word of the year. What's one relationship habit that makes you a better leader and a better human being? Curiosity. What's the most unsexy daily practice that keeps you becoming the person you want to be?

my morning nutrition. What's your 2026, Misogi Tahoe 200 June of June of 26 to 200 miles. It's going to be a beast. Amazing. Amazing. And Russell, last one. What does Redefining What's Possible mean to you? A willingness to pursue adventure and a willingness to acknowledge that every day.

is the possibility of a new start line. Absolutely. You get to win that day. Russell, thank you. Thank you. It's such a pleasure. you. Yeah, sharing your story, the honesty. For the people who want to go deeper, check out the book. Russell's got a book called One Life to Lead. And Russell, people want to connect with you on a deeper level. Is there a social or a place they can connect with Oh, I think that the best way is to connect with me on

on LinkedIn so you can find me there and I'll always, always happy to engage. So thanks for giving me the opportunity. Awesome. Awesome. We'll share everything in the show notes. Russell, thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your story and those nuggets. And for all of our listeners, keep redefining what's possible. Thank you.