Three Years of Building

“Roaring dreams take place in a perfectly silent mind.”- Jack Kerouac

Three years ago today, I hopped into my car and drove from North Carolina to Mississippi. It’s not that simple, of course, but then again, it is. I had little to no idea what was about to happen, but I knew one thing for sure. I had an opportunity to build something, and I wanted to exist in a place where I was at ease with myself and could create a lifestyle catered to my ever-evolving abk dreams and aspirations. Mississippi may not be the first place that comes to mind, but at the end of a road on a former cluttered, littered lot, right before you drive into the water, looking out at The Gulf of Mexico, abk’s symbolic office was built.

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Three years later, I’m more convinced than ever that the secret sauce is two things: tuning out the noise and sunshine.

If you are anything like me, you hear a lot of noise. All of these external things vying for our attention. Five days a week (at least), my role is to serve people. To ensure they have an awesome day. To help them get better. 200 people a day. Phones ringing. I hear a lot of stuff.

If I didn’t take the time for myself and make the effort to learn how to handle the noisy world, the noise would take over. I observe it every single day. We are products of our environments. What we see and what we listen to takes over. Sometimes we don’t even know it.

What would have happened if I hadn’t taken the time to develop a certain way of being, calm and positive, in one ear and out the other when necessary? Going from a 14 handicap golfer to a golf professional, which is what almost everything on this journey now radiates from, would not have been possible if I hadn’t learned how to tune out the noise.

I had to work at it. I had to make the time. So I did, and I do. Every single day. People ask me all the time how I play golf nearly every single day. I tell them it’s just like eating lunch. I just do it. I cut through the noise and bake it into my day. Because that’s what it takes to build something wildly original and satisfying.

That, and sunshine.

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The old adage says that laughter is the best medicine, but I tend to believe it is sunshine. At least in abk World, it is. My job literally revolves around whether it is sunny. My personal athletic pursuits revolve around whether it is sunny. My recreational pursuits, mood, and creative ability revolve around whether it is sunny. Not in full, but damn close.

I remember when I was in Iceland. Beautiful place, but man it can get dark. I like the light, the positivity, the vitamins from the sun. I guess it’s a good thing that ten months out of the year, it rises and sets right outside my window, right over the water, right above the pines on the golf course.

For an outdoor, cheery lifestyle, the sun shining is a must.

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“I think the biggest thrill in life is to have a dream or imagine something and then get to see it be real. There’s nothing like that.”- Francis Ford Coppola

I never daydreamed about moving to Mississippi. I never imagined a life completely immersed in golf. Rather, I craved a life of personal freedom, inspiring others, and pursuing self-mastery, which then led me to the pursuit of mastery of this goofy little game.

Over the past three to five years, it’s neat to see what has been built, both figuratively and literally. It’s neat to feel so grateful to all of the people involved on this so-called journey of self. It’s neat to stand on a tee box now, a completely different human being from three years ago, knowing that transformation is indeed possible.

The process of accomplishing all of this, with all of its left turns and pitfalls, I believe, is the dream.

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Some time over the past year, I had an aha moment. abk is not meant for the masses. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful to everyone who is a part of the community, who follows along, who supports, who uses it even just slightly to encourage their own personal transformation or lifestyle.

But it’s really meant for that one person standing in front of me or reading quietly in bed, self-reflecting. That one person who needs a little pat on the butt, or maybe three years worth of pats on the butt, to inch him or her along on his or her own unique personal journey.

Because a few years ago, that person was me.

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Have a great week.-Benj

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