From the Founder, Brian Mazza 2/13
The Four Stages of Your Personal Covenant
I bet you didn't know there were four stages, well neither did I.
There comes a moment when change is no longer a preference. It becomes a binding decision.
Most people talk about goals.
Very few talk about covenant.
I was recently watching the Guy Ritchie movie, The Covenant. As I am dialed in, all I could think about is wow how do people execute on a PERSONAL COVENANT. Then I started writing.
A goal is something you want to achieve.
A covenant is who you decide to be.
Your personal covenant is the standard you bind yourself to when no one is watching.
It is the line you draw that you do not cross.
Even when it is inconvenient.
Even when it is expensive.
Even when it costs you comfort, approval, or short term gain.
Goals say, I want to get there.
Covenant says, this is who I am now.
When I made the decision that my children would never see me drink, that was not about alcohol. It was about an example. It was about control. It was about defining what success would look like in my house. Now, they know, that I do not stray from that personal agreement I made to myself over 10 years ago.
When I decided to go all in on building something aligned with my mind, body, and mission, that was not about money. It was about refusing quiet misalignment just because it was profitable.
That is covenant.
A covenant simplifies your life.
You stop debating with yourself.
You stop recalculating daily.
You stop asking whether you feel like it.
You already decided.
And when you have already decided, your energy shifts from internal conflict to external execution.
Most people live in preference.
I prefer to train.
I prefer to eat well.
I prefer to lead.
I prefer to be patient.
Preference collapses under pressure.
Covenant does not.
Stage One: One Foot Still In Is Still Out
There is a dangerous place between average and elite.
It is not laziness.
It is not weakness.
It is one foot in.
And one foot in is still out.
For years, I lived there.
From the outside, I was winning. Building in hospitality. Creating rooms that worked. Revenue, access, status. I never had a drinking problem. I never had a drug problem. That was not the issue.
The issue was alignment.
I was building environments that did not match the future I knew I wanted.
You can win externally while eroding internally. That erosion is the tax of one foot in.
My brother’s 40th birthday in Jamaica became the hinge.
Music. Celebration. Ocean air. The exact setting I had built my career in.
But this time it felt different.
I was married. Thinking about children. Thinking about legacy.
The next morning I sat alone overlooking the ocean with a fresh coconut in hand. No music. No distraction. Just water and truth.
I was thinking about two things at the same time.
Fatherhood.
And going all in on building online.
At the time, it was not massive money. It was not guaranteed. But the ceiling was not low. The real question was not whether it could work.
The real question was whether I would finally eliminate retreat.
I had always been strong. Respected. Capable. But still hedging. Still protecting. Still leaving a way out.
That morning I decided to remove escape.
No backup identity.
No emotional retreat.
No half measures.
At the same time, I made another decision.
When we have children, they will never see me drink.
Not because alcohol is evil.
Because indulgence will not be the model of success in my house.
That was not preference.
That was covenant.
And once the decision was final, something shifted.
Energy organized.
Focus sharpened.
Standards rose.
Excuses died.
There is a difference between commitment and covenant.
Commitment says I will try.
Covenant says this is who I am.
Commitment negotiates.
Covenant binds.
Commitment fluctuates.
Covenant stabilizes.
When quitting is not an option, your brain performs differently.
Now let me ask you something uncomfortable.
Where are you still one foot in?
In your body, allowing exceptions that keep you average.
In your parenting, choosing convenience over leadership.
In your business, keeping a side door open in case it gets hard.
One foot in feels productive. It feels serious. It feels respectable.
But it is unstable.
And instability guarantees inconsistency.
There comes a moment when ambition must turn into covenant.
For me, it was a berm overlooking the ocean.
For you, it will likely be somewhere quieter than you expect.
When that moment comes, do not negotiate.
Eliminate escape.
Bind yourself.
And watch what happens when your life no longer has a back door.
Legacy is not built by ambition alone.
Ambition creates motion.
Covenant creates legacy.
Nothing changes if nothing changes.
The question is not whether you are ambitious.
The question is whether you are bound.
MESSAGE ME IF YOUR THE SECOND STAGE OF COVENANT.
