From the Founder, Brian Mazza 1/26
The Chase Changed Everything
Not every lion that chased the deer caught it.
But every lion that caught a deer chased it.
I learned this early without realizing it.
When I was twenty two, I could have done what most twenty two year olds were doing.
Sleep late. Party. Drift. Talk about what I might do one day.
Instead, I chased a job.
I took a summer job working for Rachel Uchitel in the Hamptons at Dune.
It was not glamorous.
It was not safe.
It was not guaranteed to lead anywhere.
But it was movement.
I wanted to make money.
I wanted independence.
I wanted to start living my life instead of waiting for permission.
That single chase changed the trajectory of everything.
Because if I never took that job, I never would have met my former business partner.
And if I never met him, we never would have co founded The Ainsworth.
And if that never happened, none of what came after exists.
The wins people see years later almost never come from the moment they think matters.
They come from the chase no one was paying attention to.
That summer job was not the goal.
It was the door.
This is what high performers understand early or learn the hard way.
You do not connect the dots looking forward.
You only connect them looking back.
Most people sit still waiting for clarity.
They wait for the perfect job.
The perfect timing.
The perfect confidence.
But clarity comes after movement, not before it.
At twenty two, I did not know what that job would lead to.
I just knew sitting still was not an option.
Chasing does not guarantee success.
But not chasing guarantees stagnation.
You can miss and still be doing the right thing.
You can fail and still be building a future.
You can chase something that does not work and still end up exactly where you were supposed to be.
What you cannot do is build a life by staying comfortable.
This is the part people forget.
Every meaningful chapter in your life starts with a chase that feels uncertain.
A job that is not perfect.
A move that feels risky.
A decision that does not make sense to everyone else.
That is the work.
So if you are early in your journey and it feels like you are chasing with nothing to show for it yet, good.
That means you are alive in the process.
Every lion that eats chased first.
Always.
Keep chasing.
