Mindful Monday / Issue #535
Gratitude, Mantras, & Hiring Like a Champion
August 24, 2026 · By Ryan Hawk, host of The Learning Leader Show
Welcome to Mindful Monday!
My book, The Price of Becoming, is now 2 weeks old. So far, it is a USA Today National Bestseller, an LA Times Bestseller, a Publishers Weekly Bestseller, and a Southern California Independent bookstore bestseller (did not know that was a thing, but pretty cool!). I think you’ll enjoy it. I appreciate your support!
Here are some things from this week…
- A fun conversation with Blake Mycoskie about hitting your goals and still not feeling great
- You should run a book club for The Price of Becoming
- The mundanity of excellence
- Why you should make something heavy
- Some wise words about your culture from Brian Chesky
Like what you’re reading? Get it every Monday.
One free email a week from Ryan Hawk: the best ideas from his conversations, and a few things worth your attention. Join 100,000+ leaders. Unsubscribe any time.
#702: Blake Mycoskie – Founder of TOMS
Blake Mycoskie founded TOMS Shoes in 2006 after a trip to Argentina, where he saw children without shoes and built a company around giving away a pair for every pair sold. TOMS went on to donate more than 100 million pairs of shoes and became one of the most copied business models in the world. We discuss… Hitting Every Goal & Still Feeling Worthless… Gratitude, Mantras, and Hiring Like a Champion. You can also WATCH our conversation on YouTube.
Run a Book Club For The Price of Becoming
Book clubs are awesome because they help build community around a set of ideas. They create great dialogue. And there is power in learning useful and entertaining things together. Because of that, we have built a guide to run a The Price of Becoming book club. If you’d like to run a The Price of Becoming book club at your workplace or in your community, let me know, and I’ll send you the guide.
The Mundanity of Excellence
“Everyone wants to be the best. But very few people are willing to do what it actually takes…You have to fall in love with the boredom. You have to fall in love with the repetition. If you can find joy in the mundane work that no one else sees, the lights will eventually shine on you.” NBA legend Kobe Bryant was explaining what it actually takes. And decades before he offered up embracing the boring as the key, a sociologist who spent years embedded with Olympic swimmers came to the exact same conclusion. Except he took it one step further. CLICK HERE to read more.
Make Something Heavy
Light mode is fast and iterative, producing work that’s quick to make but just as quick to fade. It’s the mode of rapid experiments, side quests, and prolific posting. Heavy mode is slower and more deliberate and intentional (it’s often hermit mode). It’s the mode of deep work that builds over time and carries lasting weight. CLICK HERE to read more about making something heavy.
Wise Words
“Your culture is the behaviors of the leaders that get mimicked all the way down. Your culture is every time you hire someone. Every time you fire someone. Every time you promote someone. The way a leader designs the culture is not by writing out a list of values. It’s leading by example every single day and constantly shaping it, pruning it, like a gardener. You don’t just allow the culture to happen. You design the culture.” — Brian Chesky
