Fifteen years ago, I posted my first photo on Instagram:

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Welcome to The Movement Memo, a bi-weekly newsletter where I share actionable tips to help you live your best day ever, every day.

Today's Programming 

• Movement: Burpee and row metabolic conditioning 

• Quote: Campbell on choosing the right path

• Lesson Learned: What happens when you stop chasing & start listening

• Optimization: How I fueled for a 280km stage race

Today's Movement 

Complete for time:

• 30 burpee box jump overs

• 500-meter row

• 20 burpee box jump overs

• 1000-meter row

• 10 burpee box jump overs

• 1500-meter row

Today's Quote

Most people want a perfect map before they move.

But real paths aren’t handed to you — they’re built one step at a time. I didn’t have a plan when I started this journey; I just moved toward what felt right. Looking back, the “map” only makes sense because I kept walking.

The path is yours because you’re the one willing to create it.

Today's Lesson Learned:

From Small Town to Stage Races: What Happens When You Stop Chasing and Start Listening

Fifteen years ago, I posted my first photo on Instagram.

No grand announcement. No curated personal brand. Just a guy standing on the edge of a decision he didn’t fully understand yet.

At the time, my life was simple — and in some ways, predictable.

• I worked an 8–5 job.
• Lived for the weekends.
• Read the newspaper every morning.
• Booked traditional, booze-soaked vacations because that's what everyone around me did to “escape.”

It wasn’t bad.

It wasn’t broken. But it wasn’t alive.

I remember lying awake at night sometimes, wondering if this was it. If this was what adulthood was supposed to feel like —a life on rails, headed somewhere I hadn’t chosen but hadn’t really questioned, either.

There was a quiet itch under the surface.

A voice whispering not for more money, not for more status — but for something else:

More meaning. More challenge. More ownership.

The question wasn’t, "Am I doing okay?" It was, "Am I awake?"

Fast forward to today.

As I write this, I’m four days into a 280-kilometer mountain bike stage race through Croatia —riding alongside my friend @ironcowboyjames and some of the best endurance athletes in the world, across rugged trails older than my country.

Sometimes this feels normal now.

Sometimes it feels surreal.

And sometimes — especially late at night when the body is wrecked and the mind is quiet — the old questions creep back in:

How the hell did I get here?

1. A kid from a small town in rural upstate New York — population: barely enough for a decent Friday night basketball game.

2. Biggest ambition back then: a decent job, a few vacations a year, maybe a mortgage by 30.

How did that kid end up here — chasing a different kind of life halfway across the world?

It wasn’t luck. It wasn’t one big moment. It was a long series of tiny, quiet decisions that most people never noticed.

It started in 2009.

On a random impulse, I signed up for a triathlon. Not because I believed I could be great. Not because I wanted to show anyone anything.

Just because something in me was tired of sitting still.

I trained. I doubted. I suffered. I crossed the finish line.

And in that exhausted, blurry moment, I felt it: The click. The click of possibility.

Not the adrenaline rush of a race win – something deeper.

The first glimpse of a life that wasn’t about chasing weekends — but about chasing capacity.

If I could do this, what else was possible? That feeling never fully left. But it led to the next right step.

And the next:

• That first Ironman — when I realized my mind would quit a thousand times before my body ever truly needed to.
• That first business risk — leaving the safe path to build something that didn’t yet exist.
• That first honest share on Instagram — cracking the door open for people to see the real process, not the highlight reel.

Each move felt small at the time. Forgettable, even. No crowds. No congratulations.

Just the private satisfaction of answering a question most people are too scared to ask themselves: "What am I actually capable of?"

The biggest shift wasn’t external.

It wasn’t about bikes or businesses or Instagram followings. It was internal.

I stopped chasing validation – I started following aliveness.

There’s a huge difference.

• Chasing looks like ambition from the outside — but it feels hollow from the inside.

• Following feels terrifying from the outside — but peaceful inside your bones.

That’s the unlock.

Fifteen years later, standing in Croatia with my legs wrecked, my mind buzzing, and my soul somehow lighter than it’s ever been, I know this:

Especially then.

If you feel stuck right now, you don’t need a 10-year plan. You don’t need another "motivational quote." You need to trust the whisper.

The small, stubborn voice inside you that’s been trying to get your attention.

You don’t have to see the whole path. You just have to move one step closer to what feels real. That’s the only map that matters.

The door is already there – you just have to walk toward it.

— Eric

Today’s Optimization

I’ve been taking Ketone-IQ for over a year now. It’s not about replacing training. It’s about supporting the work you’re already doing. Ketones are your body’s backup fuel — clean, efficient energy when carbs run low. Ketone-IQ delivers that power directly, no fasting, no crash, no stimulant spike.

During my recent 280-kilometer stage race across Croatia — five brutal days, almost 20,000 feet of climbing — Ketone-IQ was a core part of my fueling strategy. Long days on the bike when real food felt too heavy, I leaned on it. Early mornings when the body still hadn’t fully bounced back, it gave me clean focus and steady energy without lighting up my nervous system.

There’s a reason elite teams like Jumbo-Visma are using ketones at the Tour de France. When you’re pushing massive outputs day after day, you need every sustainable watt you can get without sacrificing recovery. Ketones spare glycogen, sharpen focus under fatigue, and give you another gear when the legs start to crack.

I felt it every day in Croatia. Long rides hit smoother. Recovery came quicker. Focus stayed locked in when it would’ve been easy to drift. No fake highs. No crashes. Just clean, real energy when it matters most.

I use it because it works. Plain and simple.

Try KetoneIQ today for 30% off.

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Publisher: Eric Hinman

Editor-in-chief: Bobby Ryan