Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself

by Rich Roll

you too can sing it with everything you’ve got. Because you deserve it. And because the world needs you to be who you really are. PREFACE The crash

So I’d achieved my first goal by seizing that precious moment—walking through the open door and taking a stand.

an absolute must-read is Michael Greger, MD’s, groundbreaking New York Times bestseller How Not to Die—perhaps the most compelling and comprehensive evidence-based book ever published in favor of a whole-food plant-based diet to prevent and even reverse many of the chronic lifestyle illnesses that are unnecessarily claiming millions of lives annually. Equally compelling is Dr. Greger’s non-commercial, nonprofit website NutritionFacts.org

few compelling documentaries, including Forks Over Knives, What the Health, and Food Matters.

You’re being called to step into who you really are,” she whispered, holding my weary head in her warm hands that night. “Money comes and money goes. That’s not the issue. We’ll get through this. But you have to let go of old ways of thinking. Surrender your ego. Because the solution to our problems is in faith. Nothing else matters. Stay strong. And just keep doing what you’re doing.” With those words, Julie gave me a rare and beautiful gift, a potent reminder that when purpose aligns with faith, there can be no failure and all needs will be met—because the universe is infinitely abundant.

“So if that was it, would you be satisfied with how you’d pursued your life?”

“Remember, it’s already done. All you have to do now is show up. Stay present. And show us who you really are.”

I knew that I had to find a way to take myself out of the day’s equation—to surrender.

But what does that word “surrender” mean? As I let myself float that morning, my body fully supported by the warm ebb and flow of the sea, the words of writer Daphne Rose Kingma came to mind: “Surrender is a beautiful movement in which you gracefully, willingly, languidly fall, only to find midway that you have been gathered into some unimaginable embrace. Surrender is letting go, whether or not you believe the embrace will occur. It’s trust to the hundredth power—not sticking to your idea of the outcome, but letting go in the faith that even the absence of an outcome will be the perfect solution.”

But the energy required to even listen to someone, let alone field a question, was overwhelming.

Bliss in depletion. I finally got it. It’s that beautiful place of ascetic purity that is permitted to bloom only when the mind is stopped dead in its tracks and everything else is stripped away, leaving your soul—or who you really are—to forge a connection with the truth.

Today, finally, I can exhale. But only for a moment. Because tomorrow awaits—and I want to be better then than I am today. Because there is no destination. And there are no finish lines.

The point is that you too have a song to sing. A song entirely different from mine. A song uniquely yours, and yours alone. I don’t know what your song is. Perhaps you don’t either. If that’s the case, don’t despair. In truth, most of us live our lives so unconsciously, so disconnected and reflexive, we never pause to even ask the question, let alone entertain its answer. If we do, we are then quick to shun the impulse as an embarrassing, immature indulgence. A whimsical distraction from truly important things, like career and status. I know because I’ve been there.

What makes you uniquely you? What is that one thing you have forsaken that brought you the most joy as a child? What were you doing the last time you were truly happy? If you could do anything in the world, free from the chains of social expectation or economic circumstance, what would that be?

pen and paper hold magical powers. It makes it real. Build on that entry daily. Protect this time as sacred. And be patient. This process cannot be rushed.

What a stupid waste of time. When you feel that pang of critical self-judgment arise—and I assure you it will—refuse the impulse to engage. Instead, simply notice the discomfort with neutral detachment. Understand that response, although deeply entrenched, is an old pattern. It’s a pattern rooted in fear. A pattern that does not serve you, and never did. It need no longer be validated. Dismiss it and re-engage with the exercise.

Why is this personally meaningful to you? What do you hope to learn about yourself? And how is it helpful to others?

Goals are great. Especially big goals. But one should set such goals for a well-reasoned purpose and with conscious intention. Without this, the goal serves as a mere salve for some intangible, unexplored emotional discomfort. Such a person will likely fail in his or her quest to achieve that goal. And even should he or she succeed, chances are it was the wrong goal to begin with.

As Joseph Campbell, mythologist and author of The Hero’s Journey once famously wrote, “One can spend one’s whole life climbing the ladder, only to realize it’s been placed against the wrong wall.”

If logic carried the day, we would always act in our self-interest. Do the right thing. And flawlessly execute our plans. But that is not the nature of the human animal. Instead, we act based upon our often irrational emotional reactions to people, places, and things. In response to an identity formed by past experiences and stories we tell ourselves about who we are, what we are capable of and not capable of, most of which is pure illusion. And all too often, this leads us in a direction we don’t want to go. Failing

it’s important to understand and embrace the idea that there is a deeper, more meaningful challenge ahead. Equal parts battle and ballet, this journey is not for the faint of heart. No, this is a warrior’s path. It requires courage. It is difficult, and without destination. But it’s also the most beautiful, rewarding dance imaginable.

This process is about mining your interior to deepen your relationship with yourself. It’s about confronting, and ultimately overcoming, behaviors and thought patterns that do not serve you. It’s about reframing the story we tell ourselves about ourselves, to tell a new story altogether. It’s also about exploring the quality of your relationships with others—changing the way you think about the world around you, and your responsibility to the greater welfare of your fellow man, and the planet at large. And finally, it’s about service—refocusing your attention away from what you can get, to what you can contribute. All told, it’s about waking up. No,

Without a doubt, good nutrition creates an open channel to better communicate with yourself.

This consciousness is as undeniable as it is vast. And it is as invisible as it is unknowable, pulsing within us and beyond the constraints of our three-dimensional material world. It lives without boundaries, unlimited in scope, inexhaustible in energy, and unrestricted in its potential to shape and guide lives.

Understanding that our lives are comprised of billions of events and memories creates an awareness and an opportunity for us to dismiss and discard the knots that don’t serve us, mindfully choose new ones that do, and thus create a new prism, a new identity, and a new reality for ourselves altogether.

It’s coming to understand that we are not our past. We need not live in it nor dwell upon it. It need not shackle, define, or color our present or future experiences, let alone dictate future outcomes or our self-perception about who we are or what we are capable of. It’s about embracing the idea that each moment provides an opportunity to tell a new story about ourselves. It’s an opportunity to free ourselves from the prison of our past and the vicious cycle that propels that past into our present and future experiences. It’s an opportunity to quite literally be reborn.

What we deserve is not up to us. It’s not our decision to make.

understanding that certain past events or memories only have the power you allow them to have. You have control over what you choose to focus on and reinforce. Those negative thoughts, emotions, and stories you have shouldered your entire life need no longer influence future outcomes if you train your mind appropriately.

The series of behaviors you engage in first thing each day sets the stage and mood for how the rest of your day will play out. If you approach this precious time with mindfulness, it will focus your intention, marshal the day’s energies, improve how you navigate challenges, enhance your interactions with others, and bring a Technicolor hue to your life experience.

There is something sacred about the early hours. It’s that time when all is quiet. Nobody is trying to reach you. The world is asleep, leaving you with a gift—an invaluable, almost priceless opportunity to pause, reflect, and be present for your life. To engage your creative mind. To set the intention for not only the hours that follow, but also the life you wish to experience. All before confronting the responsibilities and demands your day will undoubtedly present.

Writing longhand forces me to slow down.

Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way calls “morning pages”—three

Setting goals is important. They bring focus and order to how you prioritize your resources, allocate your time, and exert your energy. They structure your day and bring intentionality to your actions and decision-making. Plus they’re exciting.

Setting the right goal. As discussed at length above, the extent to which you have invested in the interior work will dictate your ability to set the right goal for yourself.

But what is a goal? Most people don’t actually set “goals.” What they do is wish. They state an aspiration. But without commitment to a structured roadmap and accountable action, it amounts to little more than an empty hope.

Even in cases where a proper goal is correctly framed, there often lacks a clear sense of why it holds personal significance. Lacking is any real sense of how the pursuit of said goal will inform who you are; how it will contribute to your personal growth, serve others, and ultimately positively transform your life experience.

Goals begin as random thoughts. When recurring thoughts are reinforced, they congeal into ideas. Over time, as these ideas accumulate momentum, like a snowball rolling down a mountain, they begin to morph into aspirations. But such aspirations only become goals when we make an affirmative decision to meth...

would provide the personal caveat that no goal worthy of your complete attention, time, and resources should be too realistic. It should be big. Big enough to scare you. Audacious enough to tingle the senses, keep you up at night, and launch you out of bed in the morning.

the pursuit of that goal is best served when it is also in service to something beyond the self.

When your goal is inextricably linked to giving back and the betterment of others, you will be far more likely to follow through on the commitment to get there. It will keep you honest. And most of all, it will infuse your quest with purpose and meaning that transcends self-seeking. The more integral the service component, the more meaningful the pursuit for you and others. Even should you fail, the pursuit will be a success.

would encourage you to be conservative with your daily must-dos. Don’t try to accomplish too much too soon, especially when tackling terrain without any previous experience. The ego never fails to overestimate what we can do in a day while our knots consistently underestimate what we can do in a year. This mindset can lead to burnout or failure.

The idea is to render the whole process manageable by removing focus from the enormous, seemingly impossible task of achieving the big goal to instead laser in on the daily digestible micro-goals. In other words, once you have your roadmap from A to Z, forget about Z altogether. All you need concern yourself with is getting from A to B. Then from B to C. And so on. Baby steps, taken consistently and relentlessly, move mountains. Trite I know. But so true.

There is only do or do not.

The most powerful external motivator in your arsenal is your environment. By this I mean your community—the company you keep will either breed success or contribute to failure.

Go public with your goal. It’s important to let others know that you are striving for something. But caution is advised. Exercise judiciousness in selecting those with whom you choose to confide.

It’s said you are the average of the five people with whom you spend the most time.

So take control of your inner circle. Upgrade. Seek out the positive, aspirational people in your life. Engage those you admire. Solicit counsel from individuals certain to support and reinforce your dream. People of like minds who share your passion, perspective, and values. People armed with the experience you lack, who can be trusted to deftly guide your course, provide objective feedback, and keep you on track.

stop being a supporting player in the movie that is your life. Become the movie star. This is a hero’s journey you have embarked upon. It’s high time you starting acting like it.

Whatever it is you seek, you are not alone. There is a web of support available to you. Seek it out. Choose it wisely. Weave it into a beautiful tapestry. And emotionally invest yourself in the interconnectivity. Because life transformation is a team sport.

The power of positive reinforcement is self-evident. But don’t underestimate the power of negative pressure, an often-overlooked but highly effective external motivator.