The COURAGE to CRASH

Jake Luehrs
May 10, 2025

ONE QUESTION

How often do you think about what you think about?

ONE THING TO PONDER

If you want to raise your wealth, increase your level of humility.

When we raise our humility, we don’t live a life that is predicated on buying fancy things to impress people that don’t care about us or even notice how fancy we are.

ONE PERSPECTIVE

What causes us to put on a facade of perfection when every day realities are simply put…messy?

It’s time to normalize the very things in life that make us human, to normalize imperfection and messiness.

I anticipate the far majority of people understand that seeing the highlights and reels on social media is far from real life.

That filtered social media feed you're scrolling through? It's a mirage - it’s actually built to keep you there, admiring everything outside of you, yet ultimately robs you of three precious gifts:

1- Your gratitude for what's actually going well in your life right now

2- Your pride in how far you've already come on your journey

3- Your self-worth when you measure yourself against impossible standards

I’m not suggesting life’s great celebrations and events aren’t something to be celebrated, I actually love that!

Yet that should be about being happy for others, not having pity towards ourselves because our path is different.

Bringing real perspective is important…for ourselves and for our younger generation.

I'm not suggesting we stop celebrating wins or sharing joy—quite the opposite!

But without perspective, these highlight reels become dangerous, especially for younger generations who've never known a world without 24/7 comparison at their fingertips.

Remember, comparison is the thief that picks the pocket of your joy when you use it to measure your value.

The Courage to Be Unfinished: Normalizing Life’s Imperfect Journey!

-It’s time to normalize failure - not just as inevitable, but essential for our growth and eventual success.

-It’s time to normalize imperfection - understanding that life is not and never will be a straight line up and to the right. There will be peaks and there will be valleys.

-It’s time to normalize seasons of life - periods of life that are deeply challenging.

-It’s time to normalize challenges and struggles - They are teachers, not punishers.

The power of normalizing these things in life that are inevitable is actually the fuel to bring us together and grow with more joy, rather than isolating and hiding behind our ‘failures’.

We seem to connect more deeply in challenges and failures than we do in peak success moments.

Those success moments are fleeting while connection in failure can be impactful in perpetuity.

The most powerful person is the one that has gone through the darkest moments with grace and compassion, coupled with tenacity and love to improve their circumstances.

Compassion and Tenacity.
Vulnerability and Strength.
Both can—and should—exist together.

Being extraordinary doesn’t require perfection, it requires authenticity and strength in pursuit in something meaningful to you.

Go fail and smile.

Go fall down and don’t try to hide it.

Go be an example that failure isn’t the end, it’s the conduit.

Onward and upward!

Jake

PODCAST

Jeremy Renner - How To Overcome The Worst Pain Of Your Life

MODERN WISDOM

This is a different type of podcast that I’ve typically put on this newsletter. This is quite a story from Jeremy Renner that talks about his horrific accident on a snow cab, the process of recovering, and the perspective he has on life right now. It’s quite inspiring and shocking all at the same time. If you’re looking for a good story and shift in perspective, this could be the thing for you!

BOOK RECOMMENDATION

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender
by David R. Hawkins

There is an interesting relationship in results and fulfillment when we are able to let go and also do great work. It’s our attachment to things and outcomes that actually causes our performance to suffer. We start manipulating who we are and what we do for an external outcome rather than working through our ability to let go, be authentic, and put out our best work! Detaching, not indifferent is the path.