Built Daily

What if success isn't built in the big moments?

What if it's built in the small, ordinary things you do every single day?

In this episode of Operation Next Chapter, Marc and Cole explore the power of long-term consistency and why the habits that seem insignificant today often create the biggest results over time. From fitness and business to relationships and personal growth, the things that matter most are rarely accomplished through a single breakthrough—they're built daily.

The conversation focuses on simplifying life, eliminating distractions, and identifying the few essential actions that truly move the needle. Instead of chasing the next shiny object, Marc and Cole challenge listeners to focus on what matters most and commit to doing those things consistently.

Because success isn't usually the result of one extraordinary effort—it's the product of ordinary actions repeated long enough to matter.

Key Takeaways:

•  Why consistency beats intensity over the long run 
•  How to identify the essential habits that drive results 
•  The power of small actions repeated daily 
•  Simplifying your life to focus on what matters most 
•  Creating a "daily minimum" that keeps you moving forward 

Quote from the episode:
"Your life is usually the result of what you repeatedly do, not what you occasionally accomplish."

Whether you're building a business, improving your health, strengthening your relationships, or pursuing a new purpose, this episode will remind you that lasting success is built one day at a time.

OperationNextChapter@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The boring is where we build to be successful. The consistent little things, you've heard me say it. Why do we fold our t-shirts in six-inch squares and basic training? Had nothing to do with drawer space, had everything to do with attention to detail, the little things that needed to be done, that aren't exciting, that aren't celebrated, that aren't sexy and fancy, but they have to be done consistently.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Welcome to Operate the Next Chapter. We're Mark Nicole, retired Air Force First Sergeant, and this season is about leadership without the uniform. Because eventually the rank comes off, the structure changes, and no one has given you orders anymore. So who are you when no one has telling you who to be? This season is about reclaiming your standards, your discipline, and your role as a leader at home, at work, and in your own life. The next chapter is in its time. It's built. Let's get to work. We might have mentioned it in that last episode, but it's freaking.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yes. Temperatures are rising. That windstorm and that hoping for rain. We got about 17 drops, which I was very happy about because I have spent the last two days repainting the exterior of my barn, and I was thinking, great, thanks, Lord. You're gonna come and wash the paint off the building. I was thankful that the rain didn't hit, but it's okay, it can rain today.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

But let's be honest, that paint dried faster than before you finished.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Oh, there was time that I thought it was coming out in chunks out of the sprayer for sure. Uh so yes, it was it was plenty dry uh because I had finished up about two hours prior, so I'd have been good, but it interrupted me doing a little bit more to finish in the evening, which okay, maybe that was God's way of saying, hey, it's time. It's okay to rest.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah. And I'll provide the dry air when blowing to help it dry faster.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

That's right. I'll I'll apply the hairdryer.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah. But yeah, like you said, it's getting warmer by the day here in Arizona. I believe it was 101 yesterday in Tucson, so it's been high 90s this week. But by the day, it reminded me of this episode built daily, long-term consistency, doing small things daily, right? It's how we lead to those big wins or big temperatures in this case. But it's a great connection to the last episode we recorded where we're finding our identity, and then this episode is all about doing all those things daily to match that identity. That's how I see it.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah. Building routines and the way you think, the way you feel, the way you act, the way you respond. You heard about a couple situations that Mark and I were going through. How do you respond? You know, Mark is opening a business. I just had to change careers a bit. All of those things, everything that led up to that, were totally out of our control. What was in our control was how we think, how we feel, and how we act moving through those situations. That's built every day, every minute of every day. What are you doing to better yourself? What are you doing to prepare yourself? What is your routine look like? What is your support network look like? What's the foundation look like?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

So are you saying that success isn't built in the big moments, that it's built in the small, boring ones?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Success is also built from learning every day. Learning from your successes, learning from your mistakes, learning from your faults, learning about yourself, and then changing those mistakes, applying those failures into your life.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

And doing it long term.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Not short term because we're not gaining any ground by starting, quitting, starting, quitting. Consistency. We have to do these things all the time. And again, we can't improve until we get consistent. And I don't think we as a society give things enough time to come to fruition, to actually see change.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah, today's day and age, it's instant gratification. Things have to be instant. We have information at our fingertips. We have to have the information right now. All of the information right now to make a decision that just needs to be made. Sometimes you make those decisions without having all of the information. Just like you guys starting, you and Tiff starting your business, starting the business, right? You don't have all the information. You're doing research on the fly, but you did make the decision. You did make that decision to move forward with the business. That's all you needed to do. It was presented to you. Yep, let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah, and I even said that to her, just like we have said about this podcast. We didn't know what we were doing, we just started it. And she was confident this time, because we've talked about before, and she just hadn't got quite there of ready to do it. And finally, one day she said, I'm ready, let's do this. We didn't know we don't know. We've ran into small speed bumps every day as we're trying to set this up. Another thing we hadn't thought of. What seems like a very simple business to open up has got a lot of pieces to the puzzle. But that's okay. That's the part where the average person will probably be like, you know what, it's too much. I'm not like that. I like a good challenge. And I think we're not we, but our society is really good at overestimating what we can get done in a month and underestimating what we can get done in five years. That consistency part, the long-term built daily items. I know this isn't gonna be successful right out the gate the first month, or maybe the first, maybe three months, but if we stick with it, let's say for five years, we're gonna see results. That's the hard part for us as a society is to stick with it long term.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Are you saying you enjoy a challenge now? Have you always? Or is this something that you have worked on for years?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

I would say I've always enjoyed a challenge. I don't know that I can say the same for Tiff. And that's not a bad thing. I've probably just brought it out of her a little bit. One of the things she always reminds me of, the things that I say to her, is how do I become more confident? Do hard things. And for me, that kind of comes natural. I'm not afraid to do hard things, get out of my comfort zone. So this was an opportunity to do something hard most people aren't doing, and don't have a fear of it failing. Like we said, what if it succeeds? I'm gonna do these things daily to make it happen. She's gonna do her part. We're working as a team, two Clydesdales pulling forward together, together.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

It goes back to that comment that I made about your support network, right? You and Tiff, different personalities. Jenny and I, different personalities. Not to say either one of us are right or wrong, but different personalities, different perspectives, one goal.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

And that's actually what makes it work. 100%. Because if we were the same, it probably wouldn't work as well, or or not at all. If we were two alike, A, we probably wouldn't be still married, but let alone starting a business together, and same with you guys, moving across the country. If you guys didn't have different perspectives, maybe it wouldn't work. Yeah. Maybe couples that are all type A are going 100 miles an hour doing their thing, they have problems, or the people that are identically scared or have fear maybe are holding themselves back.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Yeah, the finding that support network, finding that team, if you will, finding those people in life that you can trust and count on and rely on, and a lot of it has to do with you. What are you doing? What have you done? What are you willing to do to continue on the success, to continue on the road? What are you willing to change if you're not? You mentioned a couple speed bumps, right? If you hit a speed bump in life or you hit a wall in life, do you just keep trying to run through it? Do you stop? For me, I look at Jenny and be like, What's going on? Well, have you thought about this? Well, no. And then I start thinking about that, and suddenly those speed bumps, those walls in life, aren't as much, you know, difference perspective. I'm not saying either one's right or wrong. In Jenny and I's case, we complement each other, right? Jenny and Tiffany are very similar in the fact that they're a little passive, is it not it? But you know, a little more reserved. Yeah. Whereas you and I are like, cool, let's go do it right now. Yeah. Well, hold on a second. Maybe we should not eat an elephant in one bite. Maybe we should start taking little bits and pieces and learning as we go. Your business, your learning as you go, our transition across the United States. Jenny and I built a house 14 years ago, 13 years ago. My math is terrible, 10 years ago, that we thought we were gonna stay in for the rest of our lives. And now we're selling that house. We're gonna move into a little box for a little while until we figure out what's gonna be going on over there on the other side of the country and figure out if that's what we want to be doing. But we're gonna do it. We're gonna do it together. We're gonna be consistent with the things that got us here, consistent with the things that we have to change to get us into our next chapter.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

And that's what got you to where you are now is all those little things, doing them consistently. And that's not exciting, that's boring, but boring wins. We just are in a society that wants new, new, new, new, and then it becomes boring, so then we re-repeat the cycle.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Yeah, we love the new, we love the instant gratification, we love everything to happen on a whim. We don't want to live the boring and recognize the failures and recognize when we need to change course. We just want that instant gratification. The boring is where we build to be successful. The consistent little things, you've heard me say it. Why do we fold our t-shirts in six-inch squares in basic training? Had nothing to do with drawer space, had everything to do with attention to detail, the little things that needed to be done that aren't exciting, that aren't celebrated, that aren't sexy and fancy, but they have to be done consistently.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah. You know, I sitting here listening to our conversation and thinking of all the small things that we do that create most of the results. And it isn't sexy at all. It's boring.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Yeah, it's terrible sometimes. Yeah, it's mundane, it works. It works if you stay the course, and if you stay committed, and if you stay on a path to grow and learn and be open to change, you know. I I can't say that I'm a huge fan of change, but I can say that most of the time those changes have led to success.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yeah. Small changes.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Yeah, we're not trying to change the world.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

No. We're moving in. I mentioned we're moving into a box, and that kind of, you know, the small things in lives, and and we've mentioned before. Mark and I don't live a minimalist lifestyle, but I do trim the fat on the non-essential things in life.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah, I was gonna say we live an essential lifestyle. Yeah, yeah. We have what we need.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah, I have come to the realization that the extras don't help. It takes up physical space and brain space. Yeah. The beauty of selling a big house and moving into a little camper is I really get to trim all the fat and make life essential. Not that I didn't know this before, but my family, that's really all I need, right? I don't need any of the other stuff. It's cool to have some stuff, don't get me wrong. I have motorcycles and stuff like that. And I enjoy those, as does my family. But trimming down and purging and and getting into what's essential in your life. What are the extra things that are occupying this space?

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yeah, and this is just you capitalizing on an opportunity to purge instead of move it all and have to purge later. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

It's a great time to do it. That was the beauty of being in the military, right? PCS in every few years, got rid of all your stuff, can't trimmed it down. But yeah, what is it in your life that you can't live without? What is it in your life that brings you joy?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Yeah, I can tell you for me, the small things that I do every day are super boring, but it brings me joy. And I'm talking about the little things like my glass of salt and lemon water when we get out of bed, reading 10 pages a day, whether it's in the morning or before we go to bed, walking, like I have, you know, a 10,000-step goal. Doesn't mean anything. 10,000 is just an arbitrary number, but for me, it's a goal to hit every day, and I feel good about it. It's eating healthy, it's going to the gym, it's talking to my kids, grandkids, family, you know, Tiffany and I sharing moments at dinner, like all those little things add up to a life well lived. And that's really what our goal is at this point. I don't care about all the extra stuff. I don't care about new. Are we gonna have new things sometimes? Sure. Are we gonna have new experiences? Sure. But our base foundation is the same every day. Whether we're here or whether we're on vacation, we do those same things. It's just part of our day. But that's what builds the success of moving forward in life and keeping things going. I mean, it's boring.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Yeah, nothing you mentioned is super sexy and fancy. Although you do go on vacations. That's pretty cool. And you mentioned the experiences, right? The experiences is what I have figured out in life, are the most important thing to me. The experiences of trudging through the mountains on a hunt with my boys, the experience of sitting down and having a meaningful conversation with my wife, the experience of just staying consistent and doing the little things that allow us to do the big things in life, the big things that we want to do, right? This business that you're starting, those little things that you do daily, does the 10,000 steps a day lead you to a business? No, but it does give you the vision to potentially take this on. I'm sure there were some conversations in those walks, maybe with God, maybe with Tiffany, maybe with yourself.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

It's funny you say that because we both say that our evening after dinner walks are probably some of the best walk and talks that contribute to our marriage thriving. It's amazing, like, like you said, conversations, mental clarity, envision. Without those walks, we probably wouldn't be doing what we're doing. And that might sound too simple, but they do us wonders. Listeners, try it. We rarely see couples walking together. We r we really see one or the other walking their dog, but the couples that we do see walking together, they're just like us. Like the conversation is deep and rich, and you can tell they are just catching up and having that moment together outside of the house. And in Arizona, it's really easy to get outside every day. Right now, it's either really early or really late. Um, but our weather is just so conducive for it.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Yeah, I did mention you said after dinner walks, not necessarily after lunch, um, because you might be sunburnt. True. And it might not be as enjoyable. Although your dinner's at like three in the afternoon, isn't it? So Yeah, so we're not going out to like seven or seven thirty at night.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Dude, how do you function? You're staying awake that late? I've changed, Cole. Staying awake a little later, trying something different. You'd be proud of me.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Look at you.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

I know. I'm growing away.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

You're so grown up.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

But you know, back to what you said about the experiences and opening this business. We wouldn't be able to do those things if we weren't doing the small things financially. And we've had those talks too on this podcast, but for us, it's uh having a budget, or if you want to call it a money plan, it's staying out of debt, it's having an emergency savings, it's all these little things that we do that are boring and daily, that's giving us the freedom to go on those vacations to open this business, just like your dinner in the crock pot. It's boring, it's awake as opposed to nuking something in the microwave. It comes fast and probably doesn't taste as good, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Yeah, man. Everything that you're talking about has nothing to do with shiny, new, fancy, or sexy. It has everything to do with building boring, consistent success stories. Everything to do with where are you going? What's your long-term goal, right? And that goes back to all of this, right? Are you setting goals? What do your goals look like for next year? What do your goals look like for next month?

SPEAKER_01 20:39

And are your habits, your daily habits, supporting those goals? Or is it just a great idea and we're not doing anything to work towards it?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

And then the other piece of that is why haven't you made the change? Everything that you want in life, you have the ability to get.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

I I honestly think it just comes down to the daily stuff, the systems, the habits. This is the difference maker in our life versus people that are just trudging by, going from thing to thing, never really reaching it, right? We're trying to keep our head above water.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Are you chasing happiness? Which I don't know if you remember a few episodes ago, happiness typically is from an external source, or are you chasing joy?

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Joy, no joy.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

For me, I'm gonna chase joy. You know, I'm gonna chase joy in the connections that I have with my family, the connections I have with my friends. And trust me, I've had to cut some friends out because they were counterproductive to what brings me joy. And that's okay, right? That doesn't mean they're bad people, it doesn't mean they don't didn't serve a purpose, but it didn't. Equate to my long-term goal. It didn't equate to where I wanted to be in life. And that's okay. Making those changes, making those tweaks, figuring out what brings you joy. Like Mark said, the salty lemon water that he drinks in the morning, right? May sound like nothing. It is nothing. It's just a glass of water with some lemons, some salt in it. But it starts his day. It starts his routine. His routine builds every single day. His routine continues. You heard him say he made some tweaks. I'd be proud of him. He's staying up past six o'clock in the evening. But that's a tweak that he chose to make, right? It's those little things that we do every day, whether it be a thought, whether it be a prayer, whether it be a walk, whether it be something you eat, whether it be a time you go to bed. All of that stuff matters. Folding your teachers into six-inch squares, the details matter. The details build success. Learning from your failures, being willing to fail, being willing to take the chance makes you successful.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

I read this quote preparing for this episode. Your life is usually the result of what you repeatedly do, not what you occasionally accomplish. Wow. The boring stuff.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

The little things. The details.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

What are you willing to do?

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yeah. What should you add? What should you remove? How can you simplify life? And most times it is just those boring daily things that make a very simple life. Our lifestyle is accustomed to making it more complicated more, more, more. Stuff, ideas, things. Is that making your life better? Maybe in the interim, but long term it's probably not.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Yeah. And if it's not, if what you're doing now on a daily basis or what you're doing sporadically isn't bringing value? My first question is, why haven't you changed? If you see it, why haven't you made a change?

SPEAKER_01 24:17

I'd be willing to bet it's probably one of these four questions you could ask yourself. What's distracting me? What's consuming energy without producing results? What are my commitments? And do they no longer align with my priorities?

SPEAKER_00 24:35

And I will add to why aren't you changing? Are you willing to?

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Like we've said before, it's hard. Change is hard.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Yep. Life doesn't have to be hard. It does require hard work. Do you have all of the skills to do the hard work? I don't like using the word tools because we only take out tools when stuff's broken. But you have all of the skills right there in front of you or within you to make those change. If something doesn't seem right, feel right, or fit right in your life, change.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Yeah, and start with just the daily minimum. Like I kind of went through my daily minimums. Maybe that's all you need is just something or some things that you do every day, like you said, that lead to the success of your day. You're right. The trigger is the lemon and salt water. That's the first thing I do when I wake up. And that starts the chain of the rest of my boring habits and routine for a great day. For things to get done, for me to have mental clarity, the energy. It's all those little things I do before most people are awake, by the way. This is like four o'clock in the morning when I start my routine. But that's when I have peace, the quiet, the dark. I love that time of morning. Before anybody else is up, or very few people, that's when I feel the most alive, which is why I do all those things at that time of the day, and it sets me up to accomplish the GSD list. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Let's be honest, it's not dark anymore at four in the morning. The sun's already started coming up here.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

True.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

But I totally get what you're coming where you're coming from. You know, when you get up in the morning, if when your eyes open, what are you doing right then in that moment to set yourself up? Are you hitting the snooze button? Are you rolling over? Are you procrastinating? Or are you getting up? I'll be honest. I have started here recently just getting up. When my eyes open, I don't care what time of the day it is, it's typically somewhere around five. No alarm. My eyes just open. I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna have, I don't do the lemon and salt, may try that, but I do drink a whole water bottle. I start that, I have learned from Mark. You should be proud of me.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

I am.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

I fill my water bottle in the evening so that first thing in the morning it's it's full, and I drink it, and then I have my coffee. That's boring, right? And it may not work for you, but it works for me.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

And you kind of mention it, but it actually starts the night prior.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

We're we're preparing for the next day the night prior just to make it that much easier. That more doable. Let's face it, life is coming no matter what. Yeah, yeah. Right? You can kick the can down or delay it as much as you want to, but it's coming. Are you ready for it? I'm ready for it every day. That alarm is set, but like you, my eyes are open before it goes off. I'm excited to wake up for the next day for the things that are coming that day. Like I can't wait to get to it. I was up here at 4 30 in the morning just preparing for us to record. Like, I was ready. I'm I'm excited about it. Are you excited to wake up in the morning or are you dreading it? What's causing the dread? Probably some of those questions we were talking about earlier.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

If you're dreading it, are you willing to change it? Are you willing to put in the work? If it's your job that you're dreading every day, it might be time to find a new job. Can you not find a new job because you're not looking? Because you have an income to debt ratio that that job helps support? And if that's the case, are you willing to ex to change the debt ratio? Are you willing to do these things? And if you're just muddling through life, are you willing to change? Because it's out there. Joy is out there, it's in front of you, it's within you, but it might take some difficult conversations and some difficult change. It might take the evening after dinner conversation with your significant other to get on the same page, to get that support network around you, to cut the fat and trim the bad influences, if you will, to hold your children to a standard so that they're not going off the rails, to hold yourself to a standard so that you're not the one going off the rails.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

I would probably disagree slightly with what you said. Might? No, it will. There's no might about it. Those things will require you to do something different. Because the way it's been going now probably isn't working. Here's your sign. We gotta do something different, or that's the definition of insanity, right? Yeah, keep hoping for the different result, doing the same things over and over again. So you you have to do something different. And like the episode title, Built Daily. Start doing stuff daily that's gonna lead you to the smile on your face, the success, the productivity, whether it's work or life or marriage or fitness or finance or whatever it is, you have to start doing smaller things every day. Tying it back to our last episode identity after achievement. You know, identity is what you believe. So if you can believe you can do those things, you believe you can make change and have a different outcome of life, consistency is how we demonstrate it. Doing those things every day long term.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Don't be afraid to live a boring life. Don't be afraid to not keep up with the Joneses and get the new car. Don't be afraid to just be content with where you're at. Some of the richest people in life drive the oldest beat-up cars out there. And I'm not talking riches as far as dollar figures, I'm talking riches as far as the way they feel. Do what brings you joy. And if change is needed, do the hard work.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

And start with the little things, it'll pay off. Yeah, yeah. I think that's another you brought up a great point. Like, it doesn't have to be huge change, small change.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

The some of the biggest effects of my life have been some of the smallest changes I've made in my life.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

It's amazing how that works.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Yeah. And and it started with me. It started working on me. It started with taking a look within. It started with the details, the little things that nobody else saw. Right? Nobody else saw them. I I said this before. I had to fix me before I could do anything to be successful or bring bring more success to my family. And I started doing that. And my boys pulled me aside and said, I don't know what's going on, but thanks. They didn't know. They just saw the result. What's your family saying? What's your support network saying? Are they part of the chaos? If so, is it the right support network? Are you part of the chaos? If so, are you willing to change? A lot of people, the answer to that question is no.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Yeah, they want it, but not willing to do the work for it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Don't get me wrong, I love shiny new objects. They bring me happiness in the moment, but they don't necessarily bring joy or add value to my life.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Yeah, the happiness fades away. Yep. Then it's time for new shiny objects.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Another new shiny object, which could be associated with another bill.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yeah. Yeah, man. I love these conversations and how we can just share a little bit about what we do. And again, these are just small things. There's nothing exciting about it, but they make big differences in our lives.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

Yeah. Focus on what matters. Not what is shiny, not what is new. Focus on what really matters to you. What really matters in life. Sometimes that's just simplifying things, not adding to.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Great talk as usual. Looking forward to our uh next episode of Loadcast coming up. So can't wait to share that with y'all and take care. Call talk too. Oh yeah, brother.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Hey, thanks for listening. If this episode challenged you, good. Leadership without the uniform isn't loud, it's daily, it's quiet, it's built, and it's small decisions that no one else does. This is your reminder to reclaim it. Reclaim your standards, reclaim your discipline, reclaim your responsibilities at home, at work, and in your own life. No one is coming to assign your next business. The next chapter is built by the first of you to be tomorrow morning.