“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”
Theodore Roosevelt
Join the Mountain & Prairie community’s shared commitment to Strenuous Living
PHYSICAL • MENTAL • RETREAT • RESOURCES
THE BACKSTORY
Back in 2009, I began leafing through my copy of Edmund Morris’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. The book had been sitting unread on my shelf for nearly a decade, but, for some reason, on that particular day, I decided to read a few pages. Within minutes, I was rapt– completely locked in on the life story of pre-presidential TR.
What captured my attention was not the well-known laundry list TR’s of accomplishments as a young man– war hero, police commissioner, government reformer, cowboy, governor, naturalist. Yes, all those specifics were impressive, but I was much more mesmerized by his operating system— his commitment to pushing himself as hard as possible, both physically and mentally, on a daily basis, over a very long period of time. He would eventually put a name to his operating system, famously calling it The Strenuous Life.
He exercised hard. He read voraciously, usually a book a day. He ran when most would choose to walk. He worked with extreme focus and intensity, but not so much that he burned himself out. He attacked each day’s tasks with enthusiasm and vigor, but not in a manic or crazed manner. When he slept, he slept. When he worked, he worked. When he was with his kids, he was the best father he could be. Deliberate, single-minded, energetic effort, day after day, year after year. And he loved it.
I remember thinking, “What if I approached my days with just 5% of TR’s effort? I wonder what I could accomplish?” And at that very moment, I began trying to emulate TR’s commitment to The Strenuous Life– his daily dedication to energetic and focused– yet sustainable– effort in all things.
My adoption of the Strenuous Life mentality was a life-changing shift and led to a number of professional and personal accomplishments. But the pride of achieving certain goals pales in comparison to the deep contentment and fulfillment that the process of living strenuously has brought me.
To state it simply: When I’m living strenuously, I’m content.
Yes, I’m tired at the end of the day. Yes, it takes effort to attack my tasks when part of me would rather be watching YouTube. Getting up early is still extremely challenging. Foregoing booze and desserts can create awkwardness in certain social situations. Lacing up the running shoes can seem like a Herculean task. And in the moment, going to sleep seems preferable to reading.
But, as Rich Roll says, “Mood follows action.”
99% of the time, when I do summon the energy to approach my day with a strenuous mentality, I am thankful I did. I’m content. And, for the moment at least, I’m happy. I can go to sleep proud of myself, with the momentum to make tomorrow equally as positive. And perhaps most importantly, my family is happier, because they are the ones that have to deal with me on a daily basis.
What I’ve learned through many trials and many errors is that, for me at least, the purpose of Living Strenuously is not to accomplish audacious professional or athletic goals. Or to check all the junk off my never-ending to-do list. Or to try and be some kind of workaholic, show-off, or wanna-be tough guy.
The purpose is to approach each day, each hour, with enthusiastic, focused, consistent, and single-minded effort. Because a commitment to the process of Living Strenuously is the most sure-fire way I’ve found to make myself consistently content.
The purpose is the process.
I have no idea if a commitment to the Strenuous Life will work for you, but it has definitely worked for me. I wish I had discovered and committed to it when I was a teenager… but better late than never.
If you’d like to join me in my daily pursuits of consistent physical and mental vigor, I’d love to have you along for the ride.
There are currently three ways for the Mountain & Prairie community to connect and collaborate in the spirit of living strenuously:
Physical Effort via Strava
Mental Effort via Threadable
In-person via the annual Strenuous Life Retreat
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.”
Mahatma Gandhi
PHYSICAL EFFORT
To participate:
– Join Mountain & Prairie Strava Club.
– Get after it.
Who is welcome:
– Individuals of all athletic abilities who are committed to making themselves a little bit better every day.
Who is not welcome:
– Show-offs, loudmouths, braggarts, know-it-alls, hyper-competitive clowns with a compulsion to prove themselves to strangers on the internet, and the like.
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
Joseph Addison
MENTAL EFFORT
To participate:
– Join Mountain & Prairie book discussions on Threadable. (iOS only, for now)
– Participate in the book discussions enthusiastically, productively, and respectfully
Who is welcome:
– Curious, intellectually nimble individuals who like to learn.
– Open-minded people who actively seek out opinions and ideas that stretch and/or stress-test their own beliefs.
– People who value respectful discourse, humility, and diverse points of view.
Who is not welcome:
– Show-offs, loudmouths, braggarts, know-it-alls, hyper-competitive clowns with a compulsion to prove themselves to strangers on the internet, angry keyboard warriors, and the like.
“It’s not ease I’m after.”
David Gessner
ANNUAL RETREAT
Join me at Colorado’s spectacular Zapata Ranch for five strenuous days of adventure, learning, and conversation – August 20-25, 2023
“I appreciate effort. No matter how small, silly or irrelevant, I appreciate effort.”
Billy Chapata
STRENUOUS RESOURCES
Wide-ranging and possibly weird sources of motivation that have helped me improve my focus, work ethic, perspective, attitude, toughness, open-mindedness, and commitment to the Strenuous Life
Books
- The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
- Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life by Kathleen Dalton
- The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
- What Doesn’t Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Environmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strength by Scott Carney
- Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
- Natural Born Heroes: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance by Christopher McDougall
- Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jocko Willink [I recommend audio for this one.]
- Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
- “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman
- Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard Feynman
- Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris
- Saban: The Making of a Coach by Monte Burke
- Lords of the Fly: Madness, Obsession, and the Hunt for the World Record Tarpon by Monte Burke
- Turning the Mind Into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham
- The Art of Taking Action: Lessons from Japanese Psychology by Gregg Krech
Videos
- A Mile an Hour: Running a Different Kind of Marathon
- All Beau Miles films
- How to Run 100 Miles
- Jocko Motivation “GOOD”
- Laird Hamilton: My Intense Diet
- 180 South (trailer)
- 100 Miles High – Darcy Piceu Africa and the 2013 Hardrock Ultra Marathon
- Fasting For Survival Lecture by Dr. Pradip Jamnadas
- Dr. Pradip Jamnadas exposes “The Bittersweet Truth”
- Fat and Lazy
- Hardrock 100 2012 Summation
- The Life Story of Charles Keating IV
- Meet the Community of The Manitou Incline in Colorado
- The Other Side of Jocko Willink
- Henry Rollins Explains His Work Ethic
- How To Smash Days When You Don’t Feel Like It
- The Meaning of Life
- Meru (trailer)
- Dan Gable | Alleviate Pressure Through Hard Work
- Teaching the Los Angeles Lakers How to Be World Champions: Dwayne Johnson’s “Genius Talk”
- Every Day
Apps
“We have got but one life here and what comes after it we cannot certainly tell, but it pays, no matter what comes after it, to try and do things, to accomplish things in this life, and not merely to have a soft and pleasant time. It is the doing of things after all which really makes life worth living.”
Theodore Roosevelt
