“Most people are living by a code… they’ve just never written it down.”
Hey Rollers,
I read a book by Chip Wilson (the founder of Lululemon) a few years back, and came across an idea of his that I love. He calls it a Life Code.
At first glance, it looks simple enough. A collection of short statements, written plainly, almost bluntly. Not goals or aspirations, but a set of rules for how you choose to live.
When I saw his, I realised that most people don’t actually have a Life Code. Or at least not one they’ve ever taken the time to write down. I certainly didn’t, which meant I had nothing to return to when it mattered.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t living by one, though, and the same applies to you.
We all operate according to a set of rules, they just tend to be unspoken. They show up in how we make decisions, in how we respond when things don’t go to plan, and in the patterns we fall back into when we’re under pressure.
Avoid discomfort.
Be nice.
Don’t upset people.
Push harder.
Wait until you feel ready.
We don’t consciously choose these rules. We inherit them. From experience, from environment, from what has and hasn’t worked in the past.
And then we follow them without really questioning whether they’re helping us or holding us back.
A Life Code is different because it’s not something you simply drift into, it’s something you decide.
It forces a different question. Not “what do I want?” but “how do I operate every single day?”
Because when things get difficult, and they always do, you don’t rise to your goals. You fall back to your rules, the standards you’ve set for yourself.
Whatever is most ingrained, most practiced, most familiar… that’s what shows up.
That’s the part that connects most to how I think about Smart Toughness.
Doing hard things has never really been about motivation or how you feel in the moment. It’s about what you default to when the moment becomes uncomfortable.
If your default is to avoid, delay, or soften the experience, that’s the direction things tend to go.
If your default is to lean in, take ownership, and act anyway, that becomes your baseline.
A Life Code doesn’t create that behaviour, but it makes it visible. It gives you something to return to when the moment tries to pull you somewhere else.
I want to share what I’ve put together. Not as something that’s finished, but as something that reflects how I want to operate when it matters.
Some of it is straightforward, and some of it is more personal.
Most of it has come from experience. From getting things wrong, from getting things right, and from recognising where I tend to drift when I’m not paying attention.
I’m not sharing it because I think it’s right. I’m sharing it because it’s mine. And that’s really the point.
A Life Code isn’t something you copy. It’s something you build.
In some areas that matter, we take the nappy off.
It comes from paying attention to your own patterns. What works, what doesn’t, where you tend to step up, and where you tend to step away.
Over time, those observations turn into decisions. And those decisions turn into something you can rely on.
The reality is you’re already living by a code.
The question is whether you’ve chosen it.
Until next week.
Keep rolling.
Justin 👊
Take Action in 3 Minutes:
Take a blank page.
✍️ Write down five to ten statements that describe how you want to operate.
Not what you want to achieve, but how you behave.
Keep them simple. Keep them honest.
If you wouldn’t follow it when things get hard, it doesn’t belong.