The Lunch That Changed Everything

It was a Tuesday.

I was having lunch with a friend — the kind of guy who makes you feel like you're not doing enough with your life.

He reads 50 books a year. Meditates daily. Wakes at 5am. Has a morning routine that would make Tim Ferriss jealous.

Tracked every habit. Never missed a day.

On paper? He was crushing it.

But halfway through the meal, he put down his fork and said something I'll never forget:

“I've optimized everything. My sleep. My habits. My productivity. But I still feel like I'm running on a treadmill going nowhere.”

I felt that in my chest.

Because I'd been there too.

I'd read Atomic Habits. Twice. Highlighted half the book. Built habit trackers in Notion. Tried every app. Journaled for 90 days straight.

And still…

Every few months, I'd look up from my streak counters and ask:

“What is all this actually building toward?”

The habits were there.

The discipline was there.

But the direction was missing.

That lunch haunted me for weeks.

It wasn't until a few months later — March 2023 — that I picked up a book by Dan Sullivan and found something that finally made sense of it all.

A single question.

So simple it almost seems stupid.

But when you sit with it — really sit with it — something shifts.

I want to share it with you.

But first, I need to show you why your habit tracker was designed to fail you.