I spent years waiting for someone to give me permission to play professional rugby.
I wasn't the most talented player. But I was hungry. I had coaches telling me, "These people are looking at you." I played Cyril Connell Cup. I trained hard. And I waited. I waited for them to make introductions. I waited for someone to reach out. I waited for the opportunity I thought I'd earned.
The longer I waited, the less happened.
Then something shifted. I thought: If it's meant to be, it's up to me.
I got two mates to come down to the park with a camera. We filmed a rugby CV. Nothing fancy, just me showing what I could do. Then I went home and started searching the internet for club emails across Europe and Japan. I'd go to work all day, come home, open my laptop, and send emails. Hundreds of them.
Most went unanswered. The no-replies stacked up. I didn't know if I was good enough. But I kept sending because I figured: Just give me a crack. I won't let you down.
Then one day, an offer came from England. A week later, another from France.
Hundreds of emails. Hundreds of no-replies. And two offers that changed the trajectory of my life. Because I stopped sitting on my hands.
That's when I learned something I now teach as a Life Performance Coach: most people are living out a plan they never chose. You don't have to.
The Problem with Waiting
Here's what waiting really is: it's outsourcing your future to someone else's timeline.
You wait for your boss to notice your work. You wait for your partner to bring up the hard conversation. You wait for conditions to be perfect before you start training, start the business, start showing up for yourself.
And while you wait, life moves on without you.
I see this constantly with the men I coach. High-performers who look successful on the outside but feel stuck on the inside. They're waiting for motivation, for clarity, for someone to tell them it's time.
But here's what I've learned through a decade of setting physical challenges, running 58 marathons in 58 days, and working with men who want more from life: clarity doesn't come before action. It comes from action.
You don't figure out what you're capable of by thinking about it. You figure it out by moving.
How I Stopped Waiting and Started Creating
After the rugby chapter ended, I found myself in a period where I was struggling. I didn't have direction. I didn't have purpose. I was fit, but fitness without meaning felt hollow.
Then I got involved in my first challenge event, a charity fitness day called Wodin for LIVIN, organised with some mates at Functional Training. I played a small part in putting it together, but that was the first time I saw how these events worked. I saw what happened when people pushed themselves alongside others. And I wanted more of that.
The year after, I organised my own challenge. Then another. 12-hour fitness challenges. 12-hour walks. Rowing 30 marathons in 30 days. A 16km stand-up paddleboard.
I never planned to build a career around this. I just needed something that gave me purpose during a time when I was lost. Something to focus on. Something that demanded more from me than comfort allowed.
What I didn't realise then was that these challenges were building every part of my life, not just my fitness.
They gave me a Strong Body, obviously. But more than that, they gave me a Calm Mind. When you know exactly what you're training for, the mental noise quiets down. They gave me Clear Purpose, something bigger than myself to chase. And they gave me a Confident Life. Every time I showed up and did something hard, I proved to myself I could be trusted.
That's the Life Performance Framework in action: Strong Body, Calm Mind, Clear Purpose, Confident Life. These four pillars don't work in isolation. They build each other. And it all started because I stopped waiting for purpose to arrive and started creating it through action.
You Become Who You Are Through What You Do
Every time I entered the arena, I was challenged. I faced doubt. I had moments where I didn't feel good enough. Moments I wanted to quit.
And every time I pushed through, something shifted. My confidence grew. Not the fake kind that comes from affirmations, but the earned kind that comes from evidence. I started asking myself a different question: What am I really capable of?
That question led to 58 marathons in 58 consecutive days across America and Australia. A world-first. Joining an elite group alongside James "Iron Cowboy" Lawrence and Dean Karnazes. Not because I woke up one day and decided to do something impossible, but because a decade of smaller challenges had built the man who could attempt it.
You don't become the man you want to be by waiting for the right moment. You become him by what you do when no one's watching.
This doesn't have to be physical challenges. You can challenge yourself as a husband. As a father. In your career. The arena is limitless.
But you have to enter it.
What Happens When You Stop Waiting
One of my clients had been employed for years. Good job. Stable income. But something was missing. He knew he had more to offer but kept waiting. Waiting for the right time, the right opportunity, the right moment when the risk felt smaller.
In 2025, he finally took the leap and started his own business.
The transformation has been phenomenal. Not just financially, though that's come too, but in who he's becoming. He's had to learn skills he avoided for years: selling himself, showing up consistently, proving his value, holding himself to higher standards.
When you stop waiting, you realise something uncomfortable: if you're meant to be in control, you have to learn how to lead yourself first. You can't outsource that to anyone else.
Watching him grow makes me proud. Not because I did the work for him, but because I think about where his life would be had he not taken the risk. Still waiting. Still wondering.
2026: My Year of Creating
2026 is going to be a great year. Not because I'm hoping it will be. Because I've decided it will be.
I've come to believe we control the life we create. Not just what we choose to do, but how we choose to see what unfolds in front of us. Too many people let life pass them by. Waiting to be invited camping. Waiting for a mate to call. Waiting for the next holiday.
The problem with waiting is you could be waiting forever.
This year, I'm releasing my first book and documentary on the 58 marathons journey. I'm working on becoming one of Australia's leading resilience keynote speakers and a voice in the men's health space, inspiring men to see what they're capable of. I have six races scheduled that will indicate whether I'm ready for my next big challenge in 2027.
But most importantly this year: I'm becoming a father. I can't wait. It feels like Christmas when I still believed in Santa.
Racing Toward What Scares Me
I'm someone who loses consistency in training when I don't have an event to train for. People say "train for life". I've tried it. It doesn't work for me. Maybe I'm too competitive.
So I consistently schedule events. I choose them for adventure, challenge, or pushing myself toward something I don't think is possible.
The goal in 2027 is so far out of reach I almost don't want to say it out loud. But I can't stop thinking about it, which is exactly why I've committed to this year's race schedule. By year's end, I want to hit a 1:18 half marathon and get my marathon time down to 2:45.
There's work to do. I'm currently 87.3kg and need to get closer to 80kg. I know I have the speed. I'm following a 16-week program and adding elevation because most races aren't flat.
So far, the training block has been humbling. Many sessions leave me questioning why I'm chasing this goal. But every now and then, I have a session that gives me a glimmer of hope. That's what I look for.
Most people don't chase the impossible because they aren't prepared to train through doubt. To build evidence that something is possible before the proof arrives.
If you only strive for what you already believe is possible, you'll never experience the feeling of doing something you didn't think you could.
Here's my race schedule:
- Toowoomba Half Marathon - May 3rd (Goal: 1:29)
- Brisbane Half Marathon - June 7th (Goal: 1:25)
- Hervey Bay Half Marathon - June 20-21 (Goal: 1:24)
- Gold Coast Half - July 3rd (Goal: 1:18)
- Jetty to Jetty Full Marathon - July 17-19 (Goal: 2:52)
- Sydney Marathon - August 28-30 (Goal: 2:52)
I won't get full training blocks for each race. But racing more means getting comfortable with competition and experiencing 100% effort. You always get more out of competing than doing it alone.
Your Turn
You may not be a runner. You may not care about endurance challenges. That's fine.
But you can still take control of your life this year.
Schedule something you've always wanted to do. Make time for it. Get it done.
You will thank yourself for doing it. Life goes fast. Stop waiting and start creating the life you want.
Take the Next Step
Want to know where you stand across Strong Body, Calm Mind, Clear Purpose, and Confident Life?
Take the free Own Your Week Scorecard. It takes 5 minutes and shows you exactly where you're winning and where you might be slipping.
Organizations interested in bringing these principles to your team: Book Lachlan to speak
Cheers
Lachlan Stuart