The Best Advice I Ever Received

(3 pieces of unconventional wisdom on success):

Author

Eric Hinman
January 03, 2025

read time: 4 minutes 

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 

Today's Movement 

Complete for time with a partner:

  • 100 burpee box jump overs

  • 400 meter run

  • 400 meter walking lunges

  • 400 meter run

  • 400 meter farmers carry (70 lbs.)

  • 400 meter run

  • 1000 cal ski

  • 400 meter run

  • 1000 cal row

  • 400 meter run

  • 100 wall balls (20 lbs)

The best advice I ever received.

Today's Quote

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

– Aristotle


Excellence isn’t born in grand gestures—it’s built in the dark.

Every small decision you make is a vote for the person you want to become.

The unremarkable reps today create the undeniable results tomorrow.

Habit isn’t glamorous, but it’s undefeated.

So, show up, every day, and let the habit do its work.

Today's Lesson Learned:

3 Pieces of Unconventional Wisdom on Success 

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given is deceptively simple:

“Just keep doing what you’re doing now, but better.”

At first glance, it doesn’t feel revolutionary. It doesn’t promise overnight success or offer a new hack to fast-track results. But when you unpack it, this advice contains everything you need to build a foundation for lasting success.

  1. Better Comes from Repetition

Success isn’t a mystery; it’s a skill honed through relentless practice.

Repetition is the bedrock of mastery. It’s not glamorous, and it often feels monotonous. But every rep, every iteration, every small adjustment sharpens your ability to perform at a higher level.

Think of repetition as your personal sharpening stone.

It’s not about doing something different every day but doing the same thing with a little more precision, a little more focus, and a little more intent.

Over time, repetition compounds into expertise, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.

  1. What You Say “No” to Matters More

Improvement doesn’t just come from doing more; it comes from doing less.

The world constantly demands your attention, pulling you in a thousand directions. But if you want to get better, you have to narrow your focus. It’s about prioritizing the one thing that matters most and cutting out distractions that dilute your energy.

This doesn’t mean saying no is easy.

It means saying no to good opportunities so you can say yes to the great ones.

It means sacrificing the immediate thrill of multitasking for the deeper satisfaction of mastery.

  1. Skill, Flow, Luck, and Opportunity

Here’s where the magic happens:

When you focus on doing one thing better, over and over, something incredible begins to unfold. Your skill improves, and as it does, you enter a state of flow—a rhythm where your effort feels effortless. With time, this attracts luck and opportunity.

Luck isn’t about chance.

It’s about being ready when opportunity knocks.

By the time it does, your repetition and focus will have prepared you to capitalize on it.

Skill, flow, luck, and opportunity—they all interact with time, amplifying each other to create outcomes that can feel almost magical.


The Takeaway

You don’t need to reinvent yourself every six months. (You can’t if you want to find success).

You don’t need the latest trick or a shiny new strategy. What you need is to keep doing what you’re doing now—but better. Focus on repetition.

Sharpen your craft.

Say no to what doesn’t matter, and give yourself the time to succeed.

Because eventually, skill, flow, luck, and opportunity will align. And when they do, success will seem like it happened all at once—even though you’ll know it’s been building all along.

Today’s YouTube:

Today’s Optimization

As we age our cells age, but I believe we get to choose what 40-year-old, 50-year-old, and 60-year-old we want to be. I envision mountain biking into my 60's and surfing in my 70's. But here’s a fact, after 30, muscle mass decreases by approximately 3–8% per decade. I’m pretty fascinated with cellular health at the moment and recently I learned the primary cause for this decline is based on mitochondrial function, the “powerhouse” of our cells.

I started researching ways to limit this decline and have come to believe mitochondria are the bedrock of good health. Healthy cells rely on healthy mitochondria. Their optimal function leads to incredible health benefits and is particularly essential to heart, kidney, eye, brain, skin, and muscle function. As we age, mitochondrial function declines. Our mitochondria are constantly renewed to produce energy and fulfill the vast energy demands of muscle, skin, and other tissues, but as we get older, mitochondrial renewal declines and dysfunctional mitochondria accumulate in the cells, resulting in significant issues.

I recently started taking Timeline’s Mitopure (a clinically studied/proven supplement), which unlocks the power of Urolithin A, a molecule that stimulates this crucial recycling and cleansing process in our mitochondria - ultimately protecting cells from age-associated decline.

Today Timeline is offering Movement Memo subscribers an exclusive deal: 10% off your first order using code “Hinman” at checkout.

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Publisher: Eric Hinman

Editor-in-chief: Bobby Ryan