I heard something recently that stuck with me more than I expected.

Ben McCollum was on The Pat McAfee Show on 3/27 talking about winning—a lot of winning. Four national titles in Division II.

And when asked what that felt like…

He said something along the lines of:

“It was cool… for about 10 minutes.”

Ten minutes.

That’s it.

Then I thought about what Scottie Scheffler said not long ago after dominating the golf world.

He basically said:

You win… and enjoy it for a few minutes.
And then life happens.

You’ve got diapers to change.
You’ve got responsibilities.
You’ve got a life waiting for you that doesn’t care what you just accomplished.

And that hit people the wrong way, because they punished Scotty for being ungrateful.

But I don’t think he was being ungrateful.

I think he was being honest. Brutally honest.

Because deep down… most of us already know that feeling.

The Lie We Quietly Believe

I’ve believed it too.

That this next win will do it.

• The next deal
• The next investment
• The next milestone
• The next number in the bank account

That will be the thing that finally makes it all feel complete.

But it never does.

Not fully.

Maybe for a moment… sure. Or minutes and if you’re lucky days.

A quick hit. A rush. A sense of “I did it.”

And then?

Back to normal.

Back to chasing.

Back to asking, “What’s next?”

The Part We Get Wrong

Winning isn’t the problem.

Chasing isn’t the problem.

Ambition isn’t the problem.

The problem is what we expect those things to give us.

We expect permanence from something that was never designed to last.

And when it fades—and it always fades—we think something is wrong.

But nothing is wrong.

That’s just how it works.

Success… is fleeting.

What Actually Lasts

What I’m learning—slowly—is this:

The joy isn’t in the win.

It’s in the build. The ability to look back at the journey.

It’s in:

• Who you’re doing it with
• The early mornings nobody sees
• The conversations along the way
• The setbacks that shape you
• The discipline it takes to keep going

It’s in looking back one day and realizing…

You didn’t just arrive somewhere.

You became someone.

A Personal Reality Check

I’ve had seasons where I thought:

“If I just hit this number…”
“If I just close this deal…”
“If I just get there…”

Then everything would feel different.

And I got there.

Multiple times.

And you know what I found?

Not emptiness… but definitely not what I expected.

Just… quiet.

A quick moment.

And then life kept moving because very few actually knew, and fewer actually care. Let that sink in.

The Shift

So now I’m trying to reframe it.

Not perfectly. Not always.

But intentionally.

Instead of asking:

“What do I need to achieve next?”

I’m asking:

• Am I present in what I’m building right now?
• Am I doing this with people I actually care about?
• Would I be proud of this season even if the outcome didn’t come?

Because one day…

We won’t remember most of the wins.

But we will remember:

• Who we walked with
• What it cost us
• And who we became along the way

Final Thought

Success is fleeting.

But the process?

That’s where life actually happens.

So yeah—go chase it.

Build. Win. Compete.

Just don’t forget…

The point was never the trophy.

It was the climb. (thx Miley)