Hey there,

I was not planning on writing this newsletter about motivation, I felt there was enough of it already. However, last Friday I had a yearly dinner with a dear old group of friends from college and someone said "If we don't give ourselves to others, what the hell are we doing in this planet?" so I decided to give a little bit of myself today.

These were people that have seen me grow bigger and get thinner. Most of us meet only once per year and my transformation was kind of evident to them between the 2016, ‘17 and ‘18 event. Yet they didn't know the details of the last 365 days, what challenges I tackled and what lines I crossed.

While talking with them, I realized that the 21st of January marked exactly one year began I registered for the Ironman Cascais 70.3 and exactly three months that I completed it. It seemed fit that I would share some of the experience with you.

One of the hopes that I had when I launched Prime Human Performance was that I would motivate and inspire people to pursue their dreams, just like others did to me either by setting the example, leading the way or suffering beside us.

I saw a video the other day from doctor and youtuber Dr Mike saying "Hyperoptimization is where medicine fails” and that the “enemy of good is trying to be perfect”

There are so many different levels in which I disagree with him… But the biggest is that it suggests we should settle with being good. In others words, that we should aim for average and not being who we want to be or achieve what we dream of.

Please do not follow his advice.

Please don't settle for average.

Please aim for more.

One year ago I registered to take part in an Ironman 70.3 triathlon, also called half-ironman. It is an incredible effort involving 1,9km swimming, 90km bike riding and, to wrap things up, a half-marathon. In total, 70.3 miles or 113 km combined. It was another step forward in my personal journey of transformation, overcoming my limits and achieving things I could only dream once.

My issue is that, if I would settle for “good”, I would never know what I can actually achieve.

Back then, in 2016, I was “feeling good”. Was I healthy? No but I wasn’t aware of that. Was I happy? I now know I wasn’t as happy as I could be. Would I ever dream that I would be writing this to you? Not in a million years! But I was feeling good and I was enjoying good, average health

It all started when I said “enough is enough, I deserve more than this”. That was the trigger. Since then, I lost more than 50kg, improved dramatically my energy, focus and confidence (so much so I launched Prime Human Performance) and was able to finish a half-marathon, then a marathon and finally a half-Ironman. I can now look forward and know deep down that I can tackle any challenge I set my mind on, personal, sporting and professional.

Why? Because I didn’t settle for average and decided to aim for more.

Now the real reason I’m telling you this.

Sometimes that enlightening moment comes on its own to us and it’s all it takes to trigger change. Other times, people just need a little nudge to change their lives for the better. It doesn’t take much catalyst to make it happen: we all have a pretty accurate understanding whether we are settling or striving. It may be enough trigger knowing that other “normal folks” did it.

That’s what I understood from the dinner I had last Friday.

I wrote this post in our blog in which I shared the journey leading to the finish line on the 21st.

Almost everyone that read it texted, DMed or emailed me saying how motivating it was and how it made them taking a step forward towards tackling a specific challenge they have in their lives. That’s what happened with my old mates: a movement is starting to take part as a group in Porto Half-Marathon 2024.

All it was necessary was a little nudge and someone showing a possible way forward. That’s why I decided to wrote this today: to ask you to nudge someone towards their dreams. That person is waiting for it and will be forever thankful.

If you take the time to read about my journey, I hope you find it also motivating and that it is pushing you to move forward. That’s the only reason why I shared it, to hopefully push someone to move towards their goals and dreams.

If you know someone that may need to know that a “normal guy” was able to overcome almost impossible odds to take part in a massive challenge - personal, professional or physical - maybe share it with them.

In any case, I am deeply thank you for you taking the time. I hope it was worthy!

Thanks,

Miguel Damas, MD

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