Pause for a moment and reflect on your station in life. How did you end up where you are now? Each of us follows a different path to the present, and we are never quite sure what the future holds. Our journeys through life are paved with hard work, luck, and a handful of critical moments. But if you really think about it, what influenced your work ethic and opportunities the most? As much as we like to think that we alone determine our outcomes in life, it’s simply not the case.

Despite everything we do to forge our own identities, we are all destined to become a little, or a lot, like our parents. Author Neil Postman once wrote that children are “the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”¹ That realization may still be unsettling for a lot of us, but instead of fighting the inevitable, let’s embrace it.

Just look at your family tree. Go back three generations. It’s safe to say that your great-grandfather toiled away in a factory or field for a tiny fraction of your current salary. Some may not consider his life much of a success. But like every parent before and after him, his definition of a fulfilled life wasn’t measured by material wealth, social status, or even his own welfare. He was driven by an innate desire we all share—to help create a better world for his children and the next generation.

Survival does not fuel ambition. Game-changing ideas don’t revolutionize the world without a fundamental belief that we can build a better future. That unwavering faith in the promise of tomorrow is the ultimate cure for the human condition.

We all want the same thing—whether you are a millennial or baby boomer. We want to leave a lasting legacy to honor those we love most and to inspire those to come. We are all daughters and sons trying to live up to our parents’ examples. So, let me tell you a story about my father and why he inspires me.

My father, Chris Johnson (coauthor of this book), took an unorthodox route to success. While attending Western Michigan University from 1976 to 1980, he spent each summer working either at the assembly line at Oldsmobile or in construction. After graduating with a degree in business and economics, and filling out hundreds of applications for job openings, he still had not landed the dream job to which he aspired. The economy in Michigan was extremely soft, so he went back to Oldsmobile, installing bumpers for an entire year. With car sales dipping well below profitable projections, he and dozens of his colleagues were laid off. Despite the sudden upheaval, he didn’t waste any time pounding the pavement for his next gig. After a couple of months, he was hired by Butternut Bread as a route salesperson, delivering white bread and Dolly Madison cakes and cupcakes. His workday was certainly not a piece of cake! It was a grueling, sleep-deprived, 80-plus-hour-a-week job that started around 2:30 a.m. and ended around 5:00 p.m. After a year of grinding it out with Butternut Bread, Dad went to work for Frito-Lay—delivering Doritos, Ruffles, Cheetos, Munchos, and Funyons as a route salesperson. Frito-Lay was a much better job, with normal hours and the opportunity for advancement. After a year with Frito-Lay, he knew this type of work wasn’t his calling and would never challenge him to be the best version of himself. He decided to go back to graduate school at Michigan State University in the exercise physiology program. During his first semester, his wife Paula (my mom) announced she was pregnant, and a few months later they found out they were going to have twins. He spent the next four years working full time for Frito-Lay, raising his new twins, and finishing his graduate degree from Michigan State University. He always had a passion for health and fitness and soon found his gift to share with the world: being the prevention guy!

Dad went to work for a hospital-based wellness center after receiving his master’s degree. Early on he was recruited by Dr. Barry Saltman, a family practice physician, to help design and implement a training facility for high-risk patients. This group was littered with all types of chronic illness—diabetes, morbid obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer, and heart disease, just to name a few. If patients had an extreme health problem or were on the verge of irreversible damage, they were sent to the Well Aware Health and Fitness Center to work with my dad. These life-altering experiences forged a wealth of knowledge in the health and fitness space that built the foundation for his successful future.

In 1990, Dad was chosen to pioneer a personal training program for the Michigan Athletic Club, one of the largest hospital-based health clubs in the world. This program went on to become one of the world’s first million-dollar personal training programs. During his 16 years at the Michigan Athletic Club, he authored four books and created his signature Food Target program. He has coached over 20,000 hours of individual training and has given keynote addresses to over 500,000 people. In 2006, he launched On Target Living, a health and performance company that works with organizations around the globe. He is the epitome of walking the walk when it comes to self-improvement and has truly changed thousands of lives for the better.

I have learned a lot from my dad, but hands down the most valuable lesson from my dad is how to be curious: “Ask better questions and you’ll get better answers.” That mantra has guided him through seemingly insurmountable adversity. We want you to be curious while you read this book. Ask the tough questions and strive to see if there is a better way. Dad wasn’t the smartest or most talented, but boundless curiosity and hard work paved his road to success. I have met a lot of different people with exemplary talents and abilities, and one thing is for certain—I’ve never seen or met someone with more capacity than my father! Thirty years ago, he didn’t intentionally say, “I must expand my capacity”; he just did it.

Searching for Success

Before explaining what capacity is and why it’s needed, let’s talk about something everyone is chasing and probably thinking about right now: success. We all want success.

However, we all define success differently. Some of us just want a high-paying job or to introduce a profitable product. Many of us want to forge meaningful relationships and raise well-rounded children. However you define success, you want to look back on your legacy and smile.

If success is what we crave, then failure is what we avoid. Failure hurts. Failure is scary, yet it’s the best way to create meaningful change. Failure shapes us into the people we want to be. J. K. Rowling was unemployed and depressed when she finally finished Harry Potter. Michael Jordan was cut from his varsity basketball team, and Abraham Lincoln failed at countless ventures before becoming president. The foundation of this book was built on the lessons learned from overcoming failure.

Every article or video on success seems to unlock a magical secret to attaining it. It is very interesting to watch people search for this one easy trick. They seem to play whack-a-mole with various schemes, without any clear process or plan for applying new strategies to their own lives. Is it possible that we are overlooking part of the equation? Are we overthinking a simple process? Is there even a process at all?

Like in martial arts, in life there is a fundamental truth we can’t avoid: Most of us start as white belts. Maybe some start as green belts, but nobody starts as a black belt. Every dojo is built on the foundational belief that there’s no one true way to achieve the highest level of mastery. You must ultimately build your capacity—emotionally, physically, and psychologically. We will show you exactly how to do this. We know you want to be successful. We know you want to have a successful organization. Capacity is the secret to success; the organizations and people with the largest capacity always perform better in the long run.