The Fortitude Chronicle: A Weekly Digest of Athletic Determination

Monday Momentum

For the Relentless Mind

The Best Version of You Is Boring

The best version of you isn’t the “I can do anything” version. It’s the disciplined version. The one who does what they said they’d do long after the mood to do it has disappeared. The one who feels fear and moves anyway. The one who draws clear lines in the sand: I don’t drink this, I don’t eat that, I don’t hang out with those people. That version of you is not loud or flashy. It’s quietly, obsessively committed to your highest standard.

You’re going to experience pain either way. The pain of success or the pain of regret. One is acute and temporary. The other lingers. The real question isn’t whether you’ll suffer. It’s which type of suffering you’re willing to live with.​

The disciplined version of you isn’t created in one big moment. It’s built in a thousand small decisions. Discipline is a process, not an event. It’s choosing to step outside your comfort zone when staying comfortable would be easier. It’s setting non‑negotiables and actually treating them as non‑negotiables.

“I don’t do that” is stronger than “I’m trying not to.” Those choices around food, alcohol, sleep, social circles, and use of time aren’t restrictions. They’re design decisions. You’re building a life that makes your best behavior the default, not the exception.​

Be the person who holds the line when it’s hardest to hold. When fear shows up, choose movement instead of avoidance. Your life is defined less by what you add and more by what you’re willing to subtract.

You say no to certain foods or drinks not because you hate pleasure, but because you’re playing a longer game. You say no to certain people because you understand environment is not neutral—it’s either pulling you up or dragging you down. The company you keep is shaping you in ways you won’t see until much later.

Every path comes with pain. The pain of discipline is the daily friction: early alarms, hard reps, tough conversations, delayed gratification. It’s heavy in the moment but light over a lifetime. It gives you health, options, and self‑respect.​

The pain of regret is different. It’s quiet and heavy. It shows up when the window has closed—when the career is over, when the relationship is gone, when the body won’t do what it used to. It’s the realization that you had chances to choose differently and didn’t. That weight grows over time, not less​

Given enough time, discipline makes your life bigger. Regret makes it smaller.

This isn’t about burning yourself out chasing every goal. It’s about applying focused discipline to what actually matters to you and letting the rest go. Discipline is not a cage; it’s a structure that lets you move freely toward what you said you wanted.​

The best version of you isn’t the one that feels capable of anything. It’s the one that quietly does the hard things, consistently, especially when no one is watching.

You will pay a price either way. Let your pain be the weight of discipline today, not the weight of regret tomorrow.

Two Quotes

1. “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” — Epicurus

2. “I think 98% of football is about dealing with failure and still being able to smile and find joy in the game the next day.”- Jurgen Klopp

Four Posts

To Building Fortitude.

 Best Regards,

Colin Jonov, Founder & CEO Athletic Fortitude