“It never gets old, Josh.”

You may recall that I have a passion for stock car racing. I formerly ran the oldest paved oval and first purpose-built road course in the US, located in Thompson, CT. While I left that position in 2018, the sport never left me. You see, racing is something that’s hard to explain. It’s a hobby that gets into your DNA. To scratch my itch, I started my own promotions company in 2019. JDV Productions has produced over 30 events since its formation, and on July 10, we promoted the second running of the Clash at Claremont. The event featured NASCAR’s oldest division, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. A dear friend of mine owns one of the cars and sponsors several others. In fact, he is one of BLG’s clients.

While he couldn’t be there on the 10th, his car went on to become the champion of the event. After the victory lane ceremonies wrapped up, I was walking back with one of the crew members. I have known him for almost 15 years. It was just the two of us. I congratulated him, and he responded, “It never gets old, Josh—winning. I’m so grateful to work with these guys and still be able to do it.” 

“That’s a great perspective, Tommy,” I responded. As I reflected on the night and this interaction specifically, I was struck by how rich of a lesson Tommy shared with me. 

Not only was he talking about finishing first on the track, but he was talking about the ability to still compete, to get better every time, and to be part of a team. That’s a much wider definition than I think is normally used in business, sports, or life. We think about being better than everyone else. And here’s the irony: by focusing on everyone else, we aren’t getting better ourselves. We are putting all of our energy on others, whom we have no ability to influence or control, instead of focusing on our own plans, efforts, and actions which we can directly influence and control. 

We desperately need to reframe winning into a game of mastery. It’s the process of getting up every day and doing the mundane, making another attempt, and getting better today than we were yesterday. 

I once had a boss who I greatly admired. We would often have conversations about management and leadership. One day we were talking about pressure and performance. As I was sharing how hard I can be on myself and the pressure that I impose on myself is likely to be far more than others could, he shared words that I have never forgotten. 

“Progress receives mercy, Josh,” he wisely said. 

When mastery and progress become our aim, it truly never gets old. It’s an opportunity to begin again with more wisdom. It’s an invitation to go deeper. The weight of the work never being done is replaced with the adventure that we get to continue on. And when we make that shift, we are flooded with gratitude that progress becomes the goal. We become grateful for the opportunity to do it again. We become grateful there is more for us to learn. 

I was recently in a quarterly planning session with a client and we were reflecting on the progress he has made over the past several years. I shared the story about my conversation with Tommy with him. Upon hearing it, he responded, “Losing gets old.”

“It sure does,” I responded. The reason that it gets old is because we are attached to a certain, very specific outcome—namely, success. We encounter resistance and let it convince us to give in as opposed to acknowledging that there is no growth without resistance. When we keep the end in mind and allow for the freedom for progress to guide us to our desired outcome, we—ironically—get there faster. 

I have been coaching another friend of mine for two years. He shared with me that he worked with another coach before. He was very reluctant to sign up because he was afraid of the cost of coaching. When he reframed that and saw it as an investment, and we started working together, things changed in a big way. He just posted his best earning year and he is about to destroy that record by 33% again in 2026. In his previous coaching, the emphasis was on winning—what needed to happen and how it happened. In our coaching, the emphasis is on creating the conditions for success by identifying the outcomes we want and building the habits, behaviors, and decisions that consistently produce those results. 

Back to racing—my friend’s team started the race in first position. They led the first 31 laps. After that they ran in second for the next 65 laps before he rocketed back into the lead, passing one of the greatest Modified drivers of this generation. Sometimes progress can look like losing a position, but when we focus on getting a little bit better each lap we experience the newness of winning all over again.

Quote: 

“This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is just perhaps the end of the beginning.”

― Winston S. Churchill

Question: 

Where are you currently making progress? Where can you lean in to build on that momentum?

Call to Action/Next Event: 

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