The Start

(C).1/1 - The Start / 6-27-2025

Reflecting back on my senior year of high school, I had zero clue what I wanted out of my future. All I knew was that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Now, here I am, 4 years later writing my very first blog post to be published to my personal website featuring knowledge that has taken me years, products that I have taken me months to create, and events that have changed the direction I want to head in life. 

The best piece of advice I could give to an 18 year old me: “Why not me.” Notice the punctuation, this isn’t a question; it’s a statement. Regardless of the goal that keeps the mind occupied, the answer to the hesitation or angst should always be “Why not me.” I found myself to always have these role models within the media realm: fitness personalities, businessmen, internet/tv personalities. I always found myself wishing I could do something like they were doing; training for fitness competitions, building businesses, and creating content/appearing in media. 

I reached a point where I decided to just START somewhere, because actually starting allows progress to be made towards the final destination OR course correction if it's found to be an undesired path. But without starting, neither of those circumstances can take place. So, I decided I wanted to give my shot at fitness, and I decided to start with something “simple”: I decided to sign up for my first marathon. It was scary, intimidating, and even though I ran competitively in high school, I had zero clue what I was doing. I pushed the event back, pushed it back even further, my first race was cancelled the morning of due to excessive heat. Finally, I raced the damn thing. I did it, and I realized I just did something that no one can ever take away from me. I started building a resume of irrefutable evidence that “I am, who I say I am”. I was hooked. 

More time followed; including more events and even more training. There were times I seriously questioned whether or not this was worth it, but every time I thought about throwing in the towel, that statement “Why not me.” still sat in the back of my head. The solidifying moment for me was completing my very first Ironman. I was asked by many people, “Do you think you’ll finish?” or “Are you trained enough?” I would give a little laugh and shrug my shoulders, saying, “We’ll see.” But, I knew I would be crossing that finish line under my own power. I knew that all I needed to do was go one mile at a time and put one foot in front of another, and there was zero doubt about doing so. It just became a question of time, and not IF I was willing to endure. This is the same way I now frame all of my goals; it's never a question of IF I’m able to endure what it takes, it’s just a question of how long will it take. “We’ll see,” because all of this is just a result of the frame of mindset “Why not me.” Repeat that, and just start somewhere.

Do it, or don’t do it, the time will pass anyways.

Bennett Gunderson