GRIT One

Monthly missions are the heart and soul of the GRIT One program. Each month of the program, you’ll participate in a solo mission designed to challenge you in unique ways. Missions build upon one another, becoming increasingly difficult as you move through the program. The final Misogi mission will force you to redefine your comfort zone and ideas about your capabilities. Read more about the format of missions, preparation, and participation requirements.

Because consistency and accountability are integral to success, you’ll participate in weekly check-ins with Jess. These sessions last about 30 minutes, take place via Phone or Zoom, and are designed to make sure you’re tracking toward success. The GRIT program is about more than getting in fantastic shape and having extraordinary adventures; it’s about the total mind-body transformation you achieve as a result of completing all aspects of the program. During your first check-in, you’ll be asked what you hope to achieve through the GRIT program and how you hope to grow and transform. You’ll work with Jess to set some audacious goals and create a gameplan for each. Maybe you’re sick of your 9-5 and have always wanted to start a business. Perhaps you’ve wanted to write a book, give a TED talk, or sell everything and travel the world. Whatever ideas you’ve been thinking about but haven’t taken action on — wherever you’ve been feeling stuck — check-ins are designed to attack those things. Weekly meetings with your personal cheerleader create a fantastic sense of support and accountability.

Operation GRIT uses physical experiences (hard training, discomfort, fitness improvements) because of the incredible catalyzing effect that fitness can have in other areas of life. Jess has long believed that in order to get yourself “firing on all cylinders,” you have to first get one of those cylinders going strong. Fitness is the starter cylinder of choice because it is less prone to the mental and emotional blocks that can gunk up other cylinders, like spirituality, relationships, mental fortitude, work/business, etc. And leaps in physical fitness has a contagious effect on other areas of life — when people radically improve their fitness, they can’t help but start making improvements to other areas of their lives. Fitness is a powerful, transformational catalyst. You’ll receive daily workouts (and scheduled rest days) centered around rucking and conditioning with minimal gear. If you’re already participating in a comparable fitness program, Jess will tailor your programming to integrate the activities you’re already doing and loving. The non-negotiable in the fitness program are the rucking miles. You must get those in each week.

Change occurs outside the comfort zone but most people rarely get uncomfortable. Modern life has become too easy. Because of this, most people are rattled by experiences of discomfort and become increasingly risk-averse as they age. Look — it’s amazing that we have climate control and down comforters, but we were built for challenges. The absence of uncomfortable or difficult things not only makes us physically and mentally soft, but it undermines our self-image.

The ancient Stoics practiced the principle of intentional discomfort, deliberately exposing themselves to challenging situations to build resilience and mental fortitude. By embracing daily discomfort, we can cultivate strength and adaptability, essential traits for personal growth and success. You’ll be encouraged to begin a “daily discomfort” practice to help rewire your thinking about discomfort and hard things. Maybe you take a cold shower, sit in a sauna, participate in a HIIT workout, integrate intermittent fasting, or make a call you’ve been dreading. Or, you could forgo a comfort (i.e., work out without music) or ditch a bad habit (fast from social media). What you choose for your daily discomfort is less important than the consistency of doing something that makes you squirm a little, each day. 

For participants in the advanced program, the final Misogi Mission is designed to be one of the toughest things they’ve ever done. This 24-hour mission is part vacation, part suffer fest — all incredible. The misogi will force you to realize how powerful you are while having the experience of a lifetime.