The Give Team Rules
The Give Team program started in 2015, and our first team race was in 2017. Since that time, we’ve had hundreds of workouts and dozens of races. We’ve traveled as far away as Joe De Sena’s farm in Vermont, New York City on the 20th year since the events of 9/11, a Spartan Race in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a 54 mile ruck across the state of Alabama from Selma to Montgomery, and several events in Georgia. We’ve created memories.
The undercurrent of those memories are a series of rules which are at the foundation of the team and this program. Coach Mason has been asked several times where these rules can be found. Up to now, they’ve been on the inside cover of Coach’s journal. When a journal gets filled, they’re rewritten in the next journal. Some are original. Some are borrowed. But the concepts are ancient. They’ve been rearranged a bit, loosely prioritized. But here they are.
GIVE TEAM RULE 01: No matter how little you have, you ALWAYS have something to give. BE STRONG! GIVE MORE!
GIVE TEAM RULE 01a: No matter how little you THINK you have, you always have MORE to give. BE STRONG! GIVE MORE!
GIVE TEAM RULE 02: Life is a team sport. DRAFT ACCORDINGLY!
GIVE TEAM RULE 03: Attack the morning, CONQUER THE DAY!
GIVE TEAM RULE 04: Momentum is magic. To create momentum you have to MOVE!
GIVE TEAM RULE 05: We seek pain because it’s the pain we seek that strengthens us, preparing us for the pain life inevitably throws our way.
GIVE TEAM RULE 06: If you can’t see the sweat, you’re doing it wrong.
GIVE TEAM RULE 07: Life is nothing but a series of habits and experiences, so make your habits INTENTIONAL and your experiences AMAZING!
GIVE TEAM RULE 08: You gotta get up and go get it, ‘cuz it ain’t coming to get you. And if it IS coming to get you, best get off your a$$ and be ready for it.
GIVE TEAM RULE 09: Events and circumstances don’t define you. How you respond to those events and circumstances is what defines you.
GIVE TEAM RULE 10: We are all going to die. Just not today if we do it right.
GIVE TEAM RULE 11: Every moment presents a choice between strength and weakness; a strong choice or a weak choice. ALWAYS! CHOOSE! STRENGTH!
GIVE TEAM RULE 12: If you can’t feel the pain, you’re doing it wrong.
GIVE TEAM RULE 13: If the glass doesn’t appear half full, JUST KEEP POURING!
GIVE TEAM RULE 14: the most beautiful part about life is YOU CHOOSE. If you make good choices, you earn the ability to make more choices. If you make bad choices, someone chooses for you.
GIVE TEAM RULE 15: Focus is your friend.
GIVE TEAM RULE 16: Quitting is the second easiest thing to do.
GIVE TEAM RULE 17: The most important promises are the promises you make to yourself. The easiest promises to break are the promises you make to yourself.
GIVE TEAM RULE 18: The moment you stop working is the moment you start dying.
GIVE TEAM RULE 19: There’s a time for thinking and a time for doing. Get out of your head and DO!
GIVE TEAM RULE 20: You can only do all you can do, and that’s exactly what you should do.
GIVE TEAM RULE 21: Who you are isn’t what happened to you or your environment, unless you make it that way.
GIVE TEAM RULE 22: Be the reason someone is grateful.
GIVE TEAM RULE 23: You never know WHO is watching so act like EVERYONE is watching, because SOMEONE is always watching!
GIVE TEAM RULE 24: Thoughts lie. Words lie. ACTIONS NEVER LIE!
GIVE TEAM RULE 25: Every moment is a battle between the voice in your head that wants to change the world and the whiny, weak voice seeking comfort.
GIVE TEAM RULE 26: It’s going to suck. It’s going to hurt. And it’s going to be BEAUTIFUL!
GIVE TEAM RULE 27: If it was about taking it easier, we’d still be in bed.
GIVE TEAM RULE 28: The mission is greater than the moment.
GIVE TEAM RULE 29: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
GIVE TEAM RULE 30: There’s a voice in your head that says, “I don’t think you can do this.” Force that conversation. Then keep going.
GIVE TEAM RULE 31: We’re not much different than you. We just do different things.
GIVE TEAM RULE 32: Giving in is the opposite of GIVING MORE!
GIVE TEAM RULE 33: You change the world by what you GIVE, not be what you GET.
GIVE TEAM RULE 34: Your legacy is written by what you DO, not what you say.
GIVE TEAM RULE 35: Nothing changes. Not until you want it to be different. And then you have to work for it. — Jonathan Lopez
GIVE TEAM RULE 36: The only difference between pain and suffering is the meaning you give it. — Tom Bilyeu
GIVE TEAM RULE 37: Excuses are always disguised as reasons.
GIVE TEAM RULE 38: It’s not just THAT you do the work, but HOW you do the work.
GIVE TEAM RULE 39: Just because you have it easier doesn’t mean you’re stronger or better.
GIVE TEAM RULE 40: I want to get strong so I can carry you everywhere you need to go.
GIVE TEAM RULE 41: Don’t write your story with the wrong end of the pencil.
GIVE TEAM RULE 42: Don’t ask us why we do it. Ask yourself why you don’t.
GIVE TEAM RULE 43: We are only as strong as our mission.
GIVE TEAM RULE 44: We are stronger together than we are apart.
GIVE TEAM RULE 45: We only do what we need to do.
GIVE TEAM RULE 46: You are stronger than you know.
GIVE TEAM RULE 47: Stay humble and stay hungry.
GIVE TEAM RULE 48: Getting strong is very simple. But it ain’t easy. JUST. DO. THE. WORK.
GIVE TEAM RULE 49: Be a good teammate.
GIVE TEAM RULE 50: It ain’t about the medal. It’s about the mettle.
GIVE TEAM RULE 51: It’s either an excuse or a challenge. YOU CHOOSE.
GIVE TEAM RULE 52: If the worst case scenario ain’t that bad, you’re in a good place.
GIVE TEAM RULE 53: You only have right now. And now it’s gone.
GIVE TEAM RULE 54: Control what you can control and control it with pride. If you can’t control it, control your response.
GIVE TEAM RULE 55: We have more in common than we have in conflict. Start with what we have in common.
GIVE TEAM RULE 56: Strength creates confidence. Confidence and peak performance go hand-in-hand.
GIVE TEAM RULE 57: You don’t know how strong you are until you’re forced to fight.
GIVE TEAM RULE 58: Someone is doing far more with far less. WORK HARDER!
GIVE TEAM RULE 59: Get your feet on the floor and your a$$ out the door.
GIVE TEAM RULE 60: Energy is contagious. You get what you give. ACT ACCORDINGLY!
GIVE TEAM RULE 61: Fight to survive or fight to optimize.
GIVE TEAM RULE 62: Nothing memorable ever happens by hitting SNOOZE.
GIVE TEAM RULE 63: That which comforts us can kill us. — Ryan Lincoln
GIVE TEAM RULE 64: When building strength, follow the strongest around you.
GIVE TEAM RULE 65: Put in the work, get the results.
GIVE TEAM RULE 66: Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it isn’t good for you.
GIVE TEAM RULE 67: Always seek to create an unfair advantage for yourself. — Tim Ferriss
GIVE TEAM RULE 68: The water’s cold. Just jump in. Jump in before you get pushed.
GIVE TEAM RULE 69: The goal doesn’t get you to the goal. The plan doesn’t get you to the goal. It’s what you do every day that gets you to the goal. Or not.
GIVE TEAM RULE 70: There are no hard days.
GIVE TEAM RULE 71: This. Is. Not. Hard.
GIVE TEAM RULE 72: Feed the Baby.
GIVE TEAM RULE 73: You get results by what you do or don’t do. OWN IT!
GIVE TEAM RULE 74: Your actions are more clear than any word you say, no matter how loud you say it. Clarity is more important than volume.
GIVE TEAM RULE 75: Building happiness requires building strength, and building strength requires finding comfort in discomfort. With strength you can find your own happiness. Absent strength, any happiness you experience will be fleeting.
GIVE TEAM RULE 76: You don’t get strong by seeking comfort.
GIVE TEAM RULE 77: Everybody’s watching. Nobody cares. Except everybody cares.
GIVE TEAM RULE 78: You don’t get stronger than those around you by doing what those around you do.
GIVE TEAM RULE 79: Don’t confuse your view with your vision.
GIVE TEAM RULE 80: You don’t become awesome by what you do in a moment or in a day. You become awesome by what you do EVERY day.
GIVE TEAM RULE 81: BE BEAUTIFUL! To find beauty, sometimes you need to get ugly.
GIVE TEAM RULE 82: You get strong by doing one thing: conquering pain.
GIVE TEAM RULE 83: You’re in this by yourself, but you’re not alone.
GIVE TEAM RULE 84: You gotta want to do the work even when you don’t want to do the work.
GIVE TEAM RULE 85: Stack bricks strongly.
GIVE TEAM RULE 86: The Baby Voice is loudest when you’re not listening for it.
GIVE TEAM RULE 87: Take what the day gives you. Sometimes the hard days are easy. Sometimes the easy days are hard.
GIVE TEAM RULE 88: It’s not whether you achieve the goal. It’s the person you become in pursuit of the goal.
GIVE TEAM RULE 89: You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.
GIVE TEAM RULE 90: Kissing it won't make it better. Engaging and fighting, sweating and struggling is what makes it better.
GIVE TEAM RULE 91: Work with purpose will never make things worse.
GIVE TEAM RULE 92: Positive progress demands positive energy. ACT ACCORDINGLY!
GIVE TEAM RULE 93: Nobody remembers the easy days.
GIVE TEAM RULE 94: Sometimes the hard days are easy. Sometimes the easy days are hard. Just do the work.
GIVE TEAM RULE 95: You don't get stronger by doing easy things.
GIVE TEAM RULE 96: Don't be good. BE GREAT! (from Michael Lewis, and the lesson from his high school baseball coach)
GIVE TEAM RULE 97: You only do what you see around you. CHANGE YOUR FRAME OF REFERENCE OFTEN.