Update 9: Cancer is healing me; A death plan; Supply Run #1 done, #2 begins; becoming elite

TLDR: You read that headline right, cancer is healing me; death plan created; becoming metabolically, athletically, & mentally elite; helping top performers do the same; finishing Supply Run 1, starting SR2, need applicants; over the Ironman & back to muscle building, surfing, & Mavericks.

The sections:

Section 1: Cancer Updates
Section 2: Becoming Elite Updates
Section 3: Uncharted Spirits Updates
Section 4: Teaquila Farm Updates
Section 5: Mavericks Updates
Section 6: Your thoughts, feedback, and involvement
Section 7 (The Post Script): Written Thoughts I’ve Posted

(1) Cancer

Death plan: One of the hardest things about this situation is the uncertainty of how to heal. Everyone says one thing and then another group contradicts the other, especially around nutrition (ex: 100% plant-based vs keto vs paleo vs etc). With all the uncertainty, the only thing I/we could control was an ‘if this, then that sequence.’ So we created a ‘Death Plan’. I.e., what happens if/when the scans are bad? Do I go right to chemo / radiation? Wait 3 more months? What? Living like this is so f-ing hard. So we came up with this: 1) If scans stable / good, keep operating as if I have 40 more years; 2) If scans show regression, no chemo/radiation. Take 3 months to get hyper-diligent on protocols and go spend 6wks in Nicaragua surfing; 3) If follow up scans are ‘good’, go back to original plan, but if regression (2 in a row), I’m pulling the ripcord and likely just going to go travel the world. This is v1, so more details to come.
Physically: I’m lucky that my cancer has not taken my physical capabilities at this point. In fact, my last bloodwork results showed I was pretty optimized, better than average person, actually (how the fuck do I have cancer? more on that in section 2). Yes, the meds mess me up, but I’ve found that taking them at night and sleeping through the physical issues of the meds helps a ton, but...
Mentally: I still get pretty fucked up mentally & emotionally. On Supply Run Himalayas I rarely thought about cancer. Being forced into the present and in the moment does that. When I returned, though, I was in deep depression for weeks at a time. I was like, ‘well, the one thing I wanted to do is done. If my time is up, why even try to do anything else?’ Luckily, I’ve had friends and family hold me up during this time.
YOLO’ing is done (sorta): When I was diagnosed I received an decent-sized accelerated death benefit payout because I’m considered terminal. It was used for medical, for trips, for Supply Run, for buying shit I didn’t need, for buying the truck I drove in high school, and, most importantly, giving me 9months away from work. The plan was always to figure out the next thing by July. Well, July is basically here and I need to slow down my YOLO’ing and figure out what I’m doing for work since I’m still alive, so here’s...
My new life: While not exactly how I planned it, I always saw myself teaching others how to maximize the most of this life. About 14 days ago I spoke 2 different times at a tech conference called SaaStock. I used my story to help these tech founders, investors, and executives find more clarity, more drive, and better performance...but without my disease. I had a few people come up to me and say, ‘that was one of the best presentations I’ve seen.’ Good start, I guess (more on this in section 2). It’s becoming my mission for whatever time I have left.
Cancer has healed me: This sounds fucking absurd, I know. Hang with me on this. I started doing meditation to find all the negative thoughts that were creating adrenaline/chemical responses so that I could flip out of the negativity and into positive/gratitude. This practice is part of my healing protocol. In a meditation on the flight home from 70.3 Ironman Hawaii, I saw the thought, ‘my healing is lucky’, which is a negative thought in my opinion, and produces the wrong chemical reactions internally. I then turned it to, ‘I am healing myself’ then to ‘I am seeing myself healed’ and, the banger realization, ‘my cancer has healed me.’ I.e., I was ‘sick’ well before cancer. Hard to explain here, but the simple idea is that I was on a hamster wheel much of my life and cancer took me off that wheel and put me into a fun maze (more later). I am now seeing cancer as the thing that is healing me. Yes, fucking wild, I know. I’m still working through it, but boy the mental / emotional shift is so meaningful. More to come on this later.

(2) Becoming Elite

No more ‘Has Ideas. Does Them’: I love that idea, but it no longer serves the mission I’m taking on. I want to be around and work with top performers. Top performers already have ideas and are already working on / doing them. They may not have it fully fleshed out, but they are taking SOME kind of action. So, it’s changing to this...
Becoming Elite: To fully heal, I have to become metabolically, athletically, and mentally elite. If I have to do this to live, then I can help others become elite without my disease. Therefore, the mission is moving from helping others 'do their thing' to...
Helping top performers perform even better: The is the first iteration and is still a very general statement. I will, however, likely be focusing on those in tech, but we'll see. This site / newsletter is going slowly shift to my documentation of becoming metabolically, athletically, and mentally elite. And it starts with...
First speaking opportunity: As mentioned above, I spoke at SaaStock (will link to recording when I receive it in a few weeks). Not only did it feel natural for me, but the content is something I was absolutely engulfed in and desperately want top performers to hear. The feedback from the audience, the event hosts, and other speakers tells me it struck a nerve. Which is leading to...
Speaking circuit: I’m going to spend the next 7ish months speaking on as many podcasts and at as many events as I possibly can to a) build credibility and b) keep tightening the message. While I don’t have sample audio/video yet (coming soon), I promise I’d do well based on last conference feedback. Do you know any podcasts that need a guest? Or a company / conference that need a speaker?
Performance Coaching: The next logical step for my new life and my new mission is 1:1 coaching for top performers. I have 5 people who already messaged me about being on the beta list. I’ll work with 7 people max because I want to make sure my 1:1 training/coaching does what I say it will do before I actually make this a full on thing. Starting this pilot in mid-July. Would you want one of the last 2 spots?

(3) Uncharted Spirits Updates

Still most important: Just because I’m shifting to speaking / performance coaching, doesn’t mean this has dropped in priority. In fact, it’s become more important because a part of my speaking / coaching is about the pattern-interrupt top performers need in order to get more clarity, drive, performance. Uncharted Spirits feeds that.
Supply Run 1 (Himalayas): Has been completed for about 6 weeks. It was a success. The community got supplies they needed to support their livelihood, JD got the pattern-interrupt he was looking for, and me/Jake got our pattern-interrupts, had another epic adventure, and we think this concept could be a great recurring TV show.
Thank you: Many of you on this list contributed to the Kickstarter for Supply Run Himalayas. Thank you. I don’t know how to put into words how grateful we are that you contributed. I promise we’ll make you proud.
Next steps: We’re in the process of finding an editor who can make the episodes. We have options, but looking at as many as possible. Getting the footage edited is priority #1, nothing else matters until then, but...
One caveat: We still don’t have the hard drive of footage, oof! We couldn’t dump all the footage in time before boarding our flights home from India and cameraman Dave went right to a 2 week motorcycle adventure, then to Monaco for work (he’s the cameraman for a billionaire), and now FinAir lost his luggage. He has multiple copies with him, but damn, we need him to ship that shit home to us haha.
Supply Run #2: We got one done. It takes like 6-9mos to develop these. Assuming I have more time, we’re going to start preparing the second one. First, we need to ID a region. Should we do cold/snow? Jungle? Desert? Second, we need to find a large sponsor to foot this one, like DHL or American Airlines. It sure would help to have episodes and proof of concept, though, before I pitch them haha. The plan is to run SR2 between Thanksgiving/Xmas or in Jan/Feb. TBD. Third, if you’re interested in applying as the 3rd courier for Supply Run 2, go here.

(4) Teaquila Farm Updates

Stacie took charge: I was pre-occupied with Supply Run prep, then filming it, then stuck in depression, then speaking, then Ironman...and I was pretty much worthless for TF. Stacie took charge and kept things humming. In fact, her flower fields are starting to take off...
Growing food & flowers for longevity: Flowers? Yes, flowers. Food and flowers are now both a part of TF. I want to use TF as a place to experiment for growing food that helps me / us become metabolically elite. We’ll never be a true farm farm, but with right systems we can have organic food that feeds my healing. Flowers are Stacie’s thing and she accels at design, so flowers are her love and feed her creative side. We also found some science on how flowers can actually help increase longevity and health span (more on this soon). It fits perfectly with what we’re doing.
Ramping up: There are a few admin things we need to handle, but once those are done we’re going all in on systems & content. More coming.

(5) Mavericks Updates

1/2 Ironman done: F me. That shit was hard. But so rewarding. This tested my physical, mental, and emotional limits. I now know what I’m capable of, and it’s more than I realize. I did alright considering some circumstances. If you’ve read this far, you’re amazing and I appreciate you. Reply with, ‘I’m with you Chad’ and I’m going to send you a five-dollar Starbucks card, coffee is on me. Seriously. I’m forever grateful to my colleague and friend, Dan Smith, for planting the seed for doing this. Not only did his suggestion here help me with my overall mental outlook, but he ran the final 13mi with me as my legs were breaking down. What an incredible teammate and human.
Results: I finished in 7hrs 13min. I expected to be in bottom 10%, but I never went below the bottom 19% in any category. In fact, I would have been even better, but on the last mile of the bike my chain came off and 12 competitors passed me. Bummer! Still happy. The real story, though...
Sean is mentally elite: My trainer, Sean, joined me. He prepared us for 6mos to run this thing. 10miles into the bike his quads locked (he’s pure muscle haha)...and they kept locking for the remaining 46mi. He missed cutoff by 2min 30secs and they DQ’d him. They told him he couldn’t finish. He said, ‘f this!’ and he went and finished it anyway. He cramped the entire way. I watched him run last tenth of a mile. He cramped so much he waddled like an Oompa-loompa and finished in 8hrs 39min. That’s some serious mental eliteness. Proud to call him my trainer and my friend. More on this another time.
More races: No more boring triathlon shit. I can’t handle that. I CAN however see myself doing off-road triathlons: Lake / ocean swim, mountain bike, trail runs. The other buddy who ran the 1/2 with me, Dylan, is ready to make those races (ex: Xterra) an annual or semi-annual thing. He crushed the Ironman. He’d never run one and finished in 5hrs 49mins. Daaayyyyuuum.
Back to surfing: I’m done with those types of races. During Ironman training I would ride my bike past Ventura Point and see the surf and just salivate...then get mad because I had to ride the damn bike haha. It’s time to get back to weights and surf training so I can prepare for Mavericks. Training starts this week and, hopefully, I can surf it in the next 12-18mos.
Shitty name: Also, 1/2 Ironman sounds kind of weak. Like, ‘just half of it man, c’mon!’. But if you tell someone you’re doing an ‘Olympic Tri’ people are like ‘wooooow’. Thing is, an Olympic Tri is 1/2 of a 1/2 Ironman. So from now on we’re calling the 1/2 Ironman a ‘Double Olympic Tri Ironman’. Capiche? Capiche. Credit to Sean.

(6) Your Thoughts, Feedback, and Involvement

A few questions for you today...

First: Do you know any podcast hosts who are looking for a story like mine to help their audience perform better? If yes, would you be willing to connect me?
Second: Do you know any company’s or conferences that need a speaker with a story like mine to help their audience perform better? If yes, would you be willing to connect me?
Third: Do you want one of the last 2 slots in the beta 1:1 coaching program that I’m starting in mid-July?
Fourth: Is there anything that you’d like to read/see/hear from me that could help you

Reminder: I’m publicly documenting this cancer journey to help others and I’m going all in. If I didn’t go all all in, I’d just handle this in private. My belief, though, is that being public will help me leave this planet a bit better than I found it.

You’re gonna die.

Become elite.

And do what you say you’re going to do.

🏄‍♂️

P.s....

(7) Links to one of my writings since last newsletter:

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Cancer is healing me.

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