On Having a Bias for ActionredactedLast year, we wrote about the concept of a Misogi challenge: a Japanese practice of undertaking a yearly, self-imposed, intense physical or mental test. There are only two rules to a Misogi: One, it has to be really f*ing hard. Two, you can’t die. While our big toenails will never be the same, we emerged from our 2025 Misogi with a newfound sense of confidence and resilience. The experience was so rewarding that we decided to give it another go this year and signed up for an Ironman, which we completed last weekend. Part of the challenge in this case was that, while we feel pretty comfortable running, we had never done a triathlons. Here’s what we learned about trying new, challenging things: • Just Sign Up: A few months ago, we didn't know how to swim properly and didn't own a bike. But we have found again and again that there is huge value in just getting started. A lot of people tell themselves they need to learn how to swim, buy the right bike, complete a sprint triathlons, and finish a half Ironman before signing up for the full thing. Yes, experience helps, but not if you spend years procrastinating or trying to make sure the main event goes off without a hitch. Signing up, paying the registration fee, and telling our kids we were going to do this race forced us to take action. The point is to do something challenging, throw yourself into the deep end, and figure it out. Sometimes you just have to do the damn thing. • Expect It to Be Scary: We'll be honest, swimming in groups has always freaked us out and we have viewed the swim portion of triathlon as closer to a coordinated drowning exercise than any sort of athletic event. But that’s why we signed up. At the starting line, we were still quite nervous. But we looked around and thought, if all these people can do it, so can we. And then we did. Yes, it was chaotic. But it was also exhilarating. And then it was over. • Expect It to Be Uncomfortable: Around mile 10 of the run, things started to go downhill for us. Rapidly. But when you voluntarily sign up for something really hard, you can't be surprised when it turns out to be... really hard. Discomfort is part of the deal, and you can’t freak out or complain or quit. • Embrace Being a Beginner: Prior to last week, we were complete novices at ocean swimming, bike maintenance, traveling with gear, transition logistics, and wardrobe changes, among others. At first, all of these things felt somewhat overwhelming. But we read some instructions, asked Claude a bunch of dumb questions, and figured it out. And now we (sort of) know how to do these things. There's something liberating about being completely incompetent at something and realizing you can find your way through. What else can we learn? • Know When to Listen: Yes, we had many people tell us this was a dumb idea. No, we didn’t listen and we're glad we didn't. But we also made several preventable mistakes that could easily have been avoided has we listened to some of the more tactical input from people who had considerably more experience than us and graciously offered to be helpful. Sometimes not listening to advice can lead you to achieve great things. Other times it results in an extremely unpleasant night time run and severe dehydration. Turns out there's a difference between ignoring people who tell you not to try something and ignoring people who know how to help you succeed. All in all, we are grateful for our Ironman experience and we are already planning our 2027 Misogi. But this isn't actually a post about endurance sports. Our journey at Chenmark followed a strikingly similar arc. In 2015, we bought our first company with negligible experience and little prep. It was scary and uncomfortable and required us to learn many new things and figure it out as we went. We ignored many people who told us we were being dumb, and also regret that we didn't listen more to people who offered us wonderful advice. Over the years, we have benefited immensely from maintaining a bias for action. Yes, we could have waited, but looking back, we are so, so glad we just signed up. Have a great week, Your Chenmark Team