The Race That Isn’t Real
Distractions: The Only Enemy You Truly Control
Distractions are a real attack on your mind, on your momentum, and on the progress you want to make as a builder or founder. They’re everywhere, and they take a thousand different forms: notifications, shiny new projects, phantom competitors, even your own good ideas at the wrong time.
The truth no one tells you: You need active, intentional guardrails. You need to learn how to identify when distractions are coming, where they lurk, and how to set up defenses before they show up. If you’re committed to building anything that lasts, learning how to outmaneuver distraction is non-negotiable.
Distractions are the thing you control. And they are the thing you can defend against. It’s up to you.
Sprint or Dash? The Myth of the 10-Year Marathon
I saw a quote the other day from a founder of a very successful bar company: “What’s wild about it taking 10 years to build a CPG brand isn’t the 10 years. It’s that you have to be sprinting the entire time. It isn’t a marathon. It’s a decade-long dash.”
There’s truth here and a problem, too.
Yes, if you want to move forward, you’ll feel like you have to keep up the sprint. But in reality, you can’t run flat-out, all day, every day, for a decade. That’s a fantasy. Most young founders waste precious energy racing against phantom competitors, or every brand that pops up on your feed, or the constant firehose of “big ideas” in your own head.
As I get older, and as Thirsty Friends matures, I’ve learned: there are races you don’t have to run. Sometimes you’re supposed to be in a valley. Sometimes you’re recovering, tapping your network strategically, not endlessly. And if you don’t discern what actually requires the sprint, you’ll burn out, or lose trust, or both.
Discernment, Feedback & Making It Real
Your energy and your network’s energy are finite. Don’t burn relationships by running every idea past every ear you can find. You need a couple of trusted advisors, sure. (Me? My wife, maybe a best friend or two.) But if you want good feedback, bring good questions and well-developed thoughts. Test your ideas quietly, refine them deeply, then seek honest input.
Be patient with yourself, and you’ll become patient with others’ responses. The more time, thought, and courage you bring to each idea, the better your results, and the better your community will respond.
You Are Both The Obstacle… and the Key
Ultimately, there’s only one real thing between you and what you’re capable of: You. The mental game is the only game. Your ideas, your choices, your discipline. Set your guardrails, root yourself in your faith, hold to your integrity, and you’ll unlock everything worth unlocking.
Stay focused. Pace yourself. Run the right races.
Until next time,
Andrew Heppner
Founder, Thirsty Friends