Insights Blog

Four Pillar Friday

October 3rd, 2025 // Adam Bruderly

This Week’s Quote:
“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” — Henry David Thoreau

Most people hear the word wealth and think only of money. Net worth. Investments. What shows up on a balance sheet.

But that’s a narrow view. True wealth is bigger. It’s the ability to live fully with health, with clarity of mind, with meaningful relationships, and with a sense of purpose.

That’s why I come back to the Four Pillars: Physical, Mental, Financial, and Spiritual wellness. Because wealth without all four isn’t really wealth at all.

Physical Wellness

Where Dreams Go to Die is more than a film. It’s a testament to what happens when you commit to something enormous. For those unfamiliar, it’s about the Barkley Marathons: the race so extreme most never finish…even the first lap.

Watching it confirms one truth I have known for years: you don’t just run with your legs and with your mind. The terrain, the length, the exhaustion…they all demand mental grit as much as physical strength.

That’s what the Barkley teaches us (and what life often demands):

Commitment to something big forces you past comfort and certainty.
Physical limits will be tested, but they’re only part of the story.
Mental resilience is what carries you when your muscles scream “stop.”

I see clear parallels to the physical and mental pillars of what I talk about often. When you commit to a vision, whether a business goal, health transformation, or legacy project, you’ll hit walls. You’ll doubt, you’ll struggle, maybe even think “this was way too big.” But that’s when the race starts.

So ask yourself: What big thing are you committing to that’s going to ask your body and your mind to grow together?

Mental Wellness

“The Barkley is about finding out how bad you really want it. Most people don’t fail because of their legs — they fail because of their mind.” — Gary Cantrell (Laz), Barkley Marathons founder

Since it began in 1986, fewer than 20 people have ever finished all five loops of the Barkley Marathons. Dozens toe the line each year, but most tap out before completing even the first loop. For many, the consolation prize is what’s called the “fun run”…three loops, roughly 60 miles, which alone would break most people.

The Barkley is infamous because it isn’t meant to be conquered. It’s meant to reveal the point where your mind starts bargaining against your body. That’s why it’s such a powerful metaphor.

In life, most of us don’t fail because the challenge is impossible. We fail because of fatigue, fear, or the belief that the struggle isn’t worth it. The mental pillar isn’t about avoiding those moments it’s about recognizing them and building the capacity to keep going anyway. To reframe the voice that says quit into one that says take the next step.

Because whether it’s a race, a career, or a relationship, the hardest miles are almost always in your head.

The question isn’t if you’ll face them. The question is how you’ll respond when you do.

Financial Wellness

The Barkley Marathons doesn’t look like most races. There’s no slick website, no corporate sponsors, no big prize money at the finish line.

Even the entry fee is strange. First-time runners mail in an essay titled “Why I Should Be Allowed to Run the Barkley” along with a license plate from their home state. Returners might owe a pair of socks or a flannel shirt. The fee itself? Around $1.60.

Think about that.

In a world where people spend thousands of dollars chasing entry into prestigious marathons, ultra events, or exclusive clubs, the Barkley flips the script. It’s not about the money. If anything, Laz has created a community that resists commercialization, that values grit and spirit over wealth.

And that’s the lesson.

Financial wellness isn’t always about spending more to prove more. It’s about clarity: knowing what you actually value, what you’re willing to commit to, and how you measure return. The Barkley doesn’t ask for your money; it asks for your willingness to suffer, to endure, to keep showing up when almost everyone else quits.

That’s a different kind of ROI.

In your own financial life, are you paying for the right things? Are you investing in what truly matters, or just buying a spot in the race?

Spiritual Wellness

The Barkley is brutal. Few finish. Most tap out. The entry process is quirky, the cost is symbolic, and the rewards aren’t measured in medals or prize money.

And yet, people keep coming back. Why?

Because the Barkley offers something deeper than a race: transformation.

It strips away ego, comfort, and illusion. Out there in the Tennessee mountains, no amount of money, reputation, or past success can carry you through. Only presence, resilience, and surrender to the moment.

That’s why I think the Barkley is as much a spiritual practice as it is a physical or mental test. It forces you to confront yourself…your limits, your doubts, your relationship with suffering…and then decide who you want to be when everything else is gone.

That’s transformation.

And it’s the same in life. The challenges that shape us most aren’t the ones we can buy our way out of. They’re the ones that demand we grow into someone new.

The Barkley reminds us that transformation rarely comes easy, but it always comes real.

Here’s to Living Richly,
The Journey Team

And In The End

From all of us at The 9:03 Collective: thanks for reading. Keep showing up. Stay curious. And never forget that the clock is running, so make it count.

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Until next week — keep building your moments.