The Badass Project

Hustle. No Excuses.

Badass Posts

“Apathy is the enemy. Invest enough that the penalty for looking the other way compels you to care. Potential loss usually motivates more than potential gain (though that may be the lens I see through).

The key to progress – whether discussing physical training or spiritual growth – is simple: you must want who or what you might become more than who you are or what you have right now. You must want what you can become enough to work and think your way out of being who you are right now.

The Buddha suggested that desire is the root of suffering. Krishnamurti figured it is man’s most precious possession, the flame of life. I say use it but don’t be enslaved by it. When you look in the mirror, recognizing who and what you are, and say, “I want to change” you are expressing desire. Do something with it. Fulfill it. ”

– Mark Twight

“Mostly, we defeat ourselves. We don’t believe. We second-guess. We over-think. In the mountains I rarely failed from the outside. But I sabotaged myself plenty of times.

“Swing this Kettlebell until you can’t” One guy made it to 400. I haven’t seen or heard of anyone else making it past 150. I haven’t seen a KB dropped though. I haven’t seen a man drop. No, everyone just quits. They decide on a number in advance, hit it and maybe do a few more, and then they stop.

Cowards.

Chasing the number not the experience. A number won’t change you. An experience will transform you. So what are you afraid of? Are you afraid of being transformed? Scared that a shift in the status quo might trigger desires that are too great to handle? Then why bother? Why sharpen the edge you will never use? Why forge a blade that is just for show?

Make the cut. Deep. A nick or a tickle won’t do. Get bloody. Cut off your own head if you can’t unfuck it because you and your thinking are the biggest barrier to your own progress.”

– Mark Twight, Climber, Founder of Gym Jones, Badass

A Tribute To Discomfort

By John Muldoon

A Tribute to Discomfort: Cory Richards from Blue Chalk on Vimeo.

Blue Chalk worked with National Geographic Creative photographer and North Face athlete Cory Richards to create a promotional piece to demonstrate the scope of his work and the passion and athleticism that accompanies him in the field. A Tribute to Discomfort brings the viewer through Cory’s stunning work, his unique sense of humor, and his quest to create photographs that relate a common humanity.

Original Still Photography: Cory Richards/National Geographic Creative
Co-Director, Producer: Catherine Yrisarri
Co-Director, DP, Editor: Rob Finch
Assistant Camera: Jamie Francis
Original Music: Elizabeth Lim
Sound Design: Chip Sloan, Digital One
Additional Footage: Keith Ladzinski, 3 Strings Productions

Created by Blue Chalk Media http://bluechalk.com

What You Really Fear Is Inside Yourself

By John Muldoon

One of my favorite scenes from Batman Begins is all about fear.

You’ve traveled the world to understand the criminal mind and conquer your fears. But the criminal is not complicated. And…

What you really fear is inside yourself. You fear your own power. You fear your anger. The drive to do great or terrible things.

Now you must journey inwards. Breathe in your fears. Face them.
To conquer fear, you must become fear. You must bask in the fear of other men. And men fear most what they cannot see.

You have to become a terrible thought. A wraith. You have to become an idea.

Feel terror cloud your senses. Feel its power to distort. To control.

And know that this power can be yours.

Erase your worst fear. Become one with the darkness.

Focus. Concentrate. Master your senses.

Never Stop Fighting

By John Muldoon

If you care about something. If you really want it. If you want to live with no excuses.

It doesn’t really matter how you get there. It doesn’t matter how hard it is.

What matters most is that you never give up. Never stop fighting for what you love.

What Would You Hope For Yourself?

By John Muldoon

Sometimes you’re faced with a tough situation. Maybe you chose to tackle a hard challenge (because you’re a fucking badass). Or maybe something stressful and unexpected happened in your life.

No matter what is going on in your life, here’s a little trick you can use to take the right action.

In really crazy situations, sometimes it’s really hard to know what you should do.

Instead of quitting, or giving up, or struggling, or hesitating (all of which will keep you from getting what you want), you can do this instead:

Imagine you’re a character in a story. Maybe instead of your life, imagine you’re a character in a movie or a book.

I like to imagine I’m a heroic character, a character with all the traits and habits that I’d like to have. (remember, you get to choose who you are!)

Then just ask yourself:

What would you hope this character does?

What outcome do you want for them?

What’s the right move?

What’s the brave choice, the fearless action?

Then answer those questions with your own action.

That’s how you become the hero of your own story.

 

Someday The Electricity Will Go Out

By John Muldoon

The human body is made out of carbon. Or water. Or something. I can’t remember.

It doesn’t really matter what we’re made out of. What matters more is that we’re powered by electricity.

Literally, little electrical signals bounce around our brains and tell our fingers to type and tell our arms to hug the one we love. It’s all electricity. Sometimes you can even feel the spark.

And some day it will all stop.

Lights out.

Robin Williams died yesterday, and I’m pretty sad about it.

If you didn’t know that we’re all full of electricity, you could just watch him in a performance or an interview or doing standup comedy. He just buzzed. It was like he could barely contain the energy inside him, and somehow his body and mind transformed it all into a kind of manic expressiveness. He turned electricity into joy and laughter.

That’s a pretty special gift, and I think we’re all lucky that he shared it.

I wish he was still here to share it. Some people use their energy to create more energy, to lift others up. That’s how love works, and generosity.

Anyway, it’s got me thinking. Your time is finite, and there isn’t much you can do about that. You can’t really choose to live forever, but if you use your power in the right way, if you channel your electricity into good deeds and lifting other people up, that buzz can live on even after the lights go out.

I hope you don’t waste your spark.