Voltaire once wrote, “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”

We tend to treat doubt as something to fix or eliminate. In a world that rewards confidence and clear answers, certainty feels safe. But in complex areas of life — our health, our money, our relationships, our sense of purpose — absolute certainty is often an illusion. It shuts down curiosity and leaves little room for learning or adaptation.

Doubt, while uncomfortable, keeps us open. It invites reflection, adjustment, and growth across all four pillars — physical, mental, financial, and spiritual. It’s often a sign we’re engaged, paying attention, and willing to evolve.

That being said… another Four Pillar Friday.

Physical Wellness

Peter Attia has become almost obsessive about VO₂ max and for good reason. In Outlive, he argues it may be the single strongest predictor of longevity we can influence. VO₂ max isn’t about elite athletic performance; it’s about how well your body can use oxygen under stress. The higher it is, the larger your margin for error as you age including illness, surgery, injury, or simply life.

What’s striking is how trainable it is, even later in life. Short bursts of higher-intensity work, layered on top of consistent movement, appear to deliver outsized benefits. Things like:

Bodyweight

Time: 3–4 minutes

• 30 seconds air squats
• 30 seconds push-ups (or incline push-ups)
• 30 seconds mountain climbers
• 30 seconds fast marching or high knees
• Rest 30–60 seconds
• Repeat once

Stairs or Hill Sprint

Time: 3 minutes

• Walk up stairs or a hill as fast as you can safely (20–40 seconds)
• Walk back down slowly
• Repeat 3–4 rounds

 It’s not about training like a pro. More about about protecting future capacity.

Mental Wellness

After Free Solo, many assumed Alex Honnold simply “doesn’t feel fear.” That’s wrong. In recent interviews around his Tapia climb, check it out on Netflix if you haven’t seen it, Honnold explains the real distinction: fear can be informative; panic is destructive. Fear sharpens attention. Panic collapses decision-making.

His preparation is almost entirely mental. Rehearsing scenarios, building familiarity, and staying present with what is, not what might happen. It’s a powerful model for everyday life. We don’t fail because we feel fear. We fail when fear turns into unchecked panic.

Financial Wellness

For decades, the marshmallow test taught us that success comes from delaying gratification. But later research showed something important: kids who trusted their environment were more likely to wait. When life feels uncertain, eating the marshmallow now can actually be the rational choice.

This has powerful implications for wealth. Sometimes the right move isn’t delay: it’s pulling life forward. Taking the trip. Making the career change. Buying the skis or bike that actually get used. Money isn’t just about discipline; it’s about timing, trust, and lived experience.

Spiritual Wellness

Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, 1994, might be one of the most grounding pieces of writing ever produced. From billions of miles away, Earth is reduced to a single pixel suspended in a sunbeam. And with that distance, our certainties begin to melt away. Borders disappear. Arguments shrink. The things we spend so much time defending feel suddenly fragile and temporary.

Sagan writes:

“Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.”

What remains after that challenge isn’t despair, but responsibility, humility, and awe. A recognition that every love we’ve known, every conflict we’ve created, every dream we’ve chased has unfolded on that tiny speck. Perspective like this doesn’t make life smaller; it makes it clearer. When we zoom out far enough, what matters becomes obvious: how we treat one another, how we use our time, and how lightly we hold our certainties. All knowing how rare, fragile, and shared this experience really is.

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.

If you’ve been enjoying Four Pillar Friday, the best way to support is simple: share it with a friend, forward it to someone who might need it, or subscribe if you haven’t already. The more people we reach, the more conversations we can spark about living with intention. Until next week….

The Journey Team & The 9:03