David Melse

Reflecting on One Year of the $10M Challenge

Once again, another month has rolled around, and with it comes a significant milestone. The one-year anniversary of the $10m, 10-year challenge has arrived. I'm now one year in with less than nine years to go.

I also turned 40, which I feel is a milestone event. If I'm honest, I'm not feeling great about it. I feel frustrated about where I'm at currently in terms of progress, and regardless of how much gratitude I apply to the situation, I can't help but feel I'm not where I want to be. The key will be to channel this frustration into action.

Key Learnings from a Year of Growth

Over the last year, I've talked to numerous people about the challenge, both friends and strangers. I'd like to share some things that I've either learnt or that have been emphasised to me.

The Reality of Change

The number one thing I've learnt is that change is hard. It's one thing to talk about change and growth, but to actually change and grow is both massively hard and requires significant discomfort. There are many analogies I could use, but if you think of the lobster growing and bursting out of its shell, that's the one that comes to mind and is the most visual. I don't even know if it's true, but the idea of some creature physically growing and busting out of a shell that won't expand makes sense.

Think of the number of people that go to the gym and then consider the ones that actually change physiologically, either losing weight or getting abs. Not many, if I were to guess.

The modern world is designed to keep us comfortable. The environments we're in, the friend groups we spend time with, the communities we're part of - they're generally safe and consistent, but with that can come complacency.

The Impact of Alcohol

Early 2022, I completed 75Hard, a 75-day programme with several requirements, one involving zero alcohol. Prior to this, I wouldn't have done 75 days without alcohol since starting drinking, probably at around age 18.

Most of 2022 was spent not drinking, with deviations to "celebrate" or to experiment with reintroducing it. Between October 2022 and August 2023, I went cold turkey, fully off it - around 300 days. There was the occasional moment during that time that I found it consciously difficult to say no, but for the most part, it was a new way of life.

The Power of Environment

This is a recurring theme that gets brought up on the podcast. I've been lucky to have had a diverse range of guests, from radically different backgrounds and professions, and the topic that almost always gets brought up is the influence that environment has on a person in terms of formation at a younger age or results and habits in later years.

As with change being hard, changing your environment in my mind is a shortcut to growth. The saying "show me your friends and I'll show you your future" comes to mind. Or the theory that if you take your five closest friends' income and divide it by five, that'll likely be around what you're earning.