5 Things from the Price of Becoming by Ryan Hawk

I have been a Ryan Hawk fan for a long time. I have listened to the Learning Leader Show for close to ten years, and I have read all of his books. But I honestly think The Price of Becoming is his best work yet.

What I appreciate most is that it does not promise some shortcut to greatness. It does not pretend there is a fast lane to becoming exceptional. Instead, it tells the truth. Greatness is built in empty gyms, in small moments, in private decisions, and in the times when nobody else is watching.

That really resonates with me because I think that is how most meaningful growth happens. Not in the spotlight. Not in the big announcement. But in the repetition, the effort, the struggle, and the willingness to keep going when progress feels slow.

Here are 5 things that stood out to me.

1. Comfort is overrated

One of the strongest themes in this book is that comfort is not some harmless neutral place. Staying comfortable is actually a decision to stop growing. The best environments stretch you just enough to force adaptation.

Working with my two children who are athletes, one a volleyball player and the other a baseball player, we are constantly trying to train in a way that makes them uncomfortable. This week we have been working on short hops in baseball, and I tell him they can be a little scary and uncomfortable, but that means we are working on the right thing.

2. Small things become identity

I love how much this book emphasizes the power of small habits. The little things compound. Repetition matters. And over time, the things you do consistently start to shape the kind of person you become.

That is one of the reasons I keep coming back to the idea of discipline. It is not just about getting a result today. It is about becoming someone who can be trusted with bigger things tomorrow.

That is powerful because excellence is rarely one big decision. It is thousands of tiny ones, repeated over and over, especially when nobody is watching. It took a lot of hours of practice and a lot of bad notes before I would have ever publicly called myself a guitar player….and those bad notes still happen.

3. Failure is part of becoming

I tell my 9-year-old baseball player all the time that baseball is a game of failure. We need to have the courage to do hard things and fail in order to get good at them. We spend so much energy trying to avoid failure, but failure is often where the real learning happens. Nobody grows when everything is easy. We grow when we are challenged, stretched, and forced to figure it out.

Ryan does a great job reminding us that failure is not the enemy of progress. It is part of the process. Nobody changes when life is easy. We change when it is hard. The obstacle, the resistance, and the pressure are often where the real development happens.

That reframes hardship. Instead of asking, “How do I avoid this?” a better question might be, “What is this trying to teach me?”

4. Focus matters more than noise

Another reminder from the book is that when you try to focus on everything, you end up focused on nothing. That hit home for me. In leadership and in life, clarity matters. You cannot do everything. You have to know what matters most.

This is an area I have always struggled with. I dabble in many things. And truthfully, I still do not know if it is better to be a generalist or a specialist. But I have been amazed by how often the lessons I have learned in one area show up in another. I do agree with Ryan’s argument, though. The truly exceptional performers are completely locked in on what they want.

This is a good leadership reminder too. Clarity creates traction. Noise creates drift. The more clearly you know what matters, the more effectively you can move.

The people who make the biggest difference are usually the ones who can filter out the noise and keep moving toward what matters.

5. Becoming is the reward

I really like the word “becoming” because it reminds me that we never fully arrive. Perfection does not exist. That is why I love playing guitar and painting. I will never master either completely, but I will always work to get better. There is something deeply satisfying about continuing to improve at something that will never be finished.

I feel that same way about leadership, art, writing, athletics, and pretty much every meaningful part of life. We look back and remember the journey. We remember the struggle of learning to play a barre chord. We remember the hours on the driving range trying to get better with a driver. We remember the effort, the frustration, the progress, and the growth.

That is what I think life is really about. Not arriving. Becoming.

Final thought

On my leadership journey and career path, as an artist, as an athlete, as a writer, as a guitar player, and especially as a dad, I think the best parts of my life are the parts that are still unfolding. This book reminded me that becoming is not some clean, finished destination. It is messy. It is humbling. It is full of repetition, frustration, little wins, setbacks, and quiet moments where you decide who you are going to be.

That is what makes it meaningful to me. I think about my kids learning to do hard things, the hours spent practicing something before anyone ever sees the progress, the bad notes on the guitar, the swings that miss, the paintings that do not turn out the way I hoped, and the leadership lessons that only come through experience. Those moments do not always feel rewarding while I am in them, but looking back, they are the moments that shape me the most.

The Price of Becoming left me feeling grateful for the process. Grateful that I have not arrived. Grateful that there is still more to learn, more to practice, more to build, and more to become. And maybe that is the biggest takeaway for me: the price of becoming is real, but so is the beauty of paying it one day, one choice, and one honest effort at a time.

#Pinion, #OrganizationalCommunication, #Communication, #GearUpForSuccess, , #GearUp, #GearUpYourOrganization, #LeadershipDevelopment, #Leadership, #LeadershipSkills, #LeadershipTraining, #ProfessionalDevelopment, #LeadershipCoaching, #PersonalGrowth, #CareerDevelopment, #LeadershipQuotes, #LeadershipGoals, #Coaching, #Entrepreneurship, #Mindset, #Success, #PersonalDevelopment, #BusinessStrategy, #ProfessionalGrowth, #LeadershipMatters, #LeadershipLessons, #Empowerment