The Price of Everything: Why Everyone Wants the View But Nobody Wants the Climb

Ancient Samurai Wisdom, Modern Reality, and the Cost of Getting What You Want

A Red Light Revelation

I was sitting on my motorcycle at a red light, just another Tuesday commute, when something caught my attention. A young woman was crossing the street with her male companion, and as she walked directly in front of me, I couldn't help but notice the stark contradictions in her choices.

She was significantly overweight—approaching obesity—and smoking a cigarette. The acrid smell drifted through my helmet, and I found myself thinking, "She certainly doesn't treat her body like it's the most sacred temple."

Now, before you write me off as some judgmental asshole, I know exactly how that sounds. Rude? Absolutely. Judgmental? Most definitely. But is there truth in it? Also yes.

I grew up in the '70s and '80s, when we weren't quite so thin-skinned about calling out obvious contradictions. And this woman represented something I see everywhere: people who say then want health, vitality, and longevity but aren't willing to pay the price for it.

It reminded me of something I'd heard Alex Hormozi say recently on a podcast: "Everybody wants the view but nobody wants the climb." He was paraphrasing comedian Jimmy Carr, who put it even more bluntly: "Hard choices now. Easy life later."

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That red light moment crystallized something I'd been thinking about for years. I've watched my own cousin—a guy who had full medical insurance, access to all the information he needed, and a loving wife supporting him—still couldn't control his diabetes.

Eventually, he had to amputate one of his feet. What made it worse? He was one of those older cousins who was always telling everyone else how to live their lives while his own had much room for improvement.

I joke with the young guys on the BJJ mats who regularly beat me up that I'm training to help stave off dementia, trying to build new neural pathways. I don't know if it'll work, but at least I'm willing to pay the price of getting choked out and submitted by guys half my age.

Because here's the uncomfortable truth: most people spend more time, money, and effort on their health in the last five years of their lives than they do in all the years leading up to that point.

The question isn't what you want in life. Everyone wants good health, loving relationships, financial security, and personal fulfillment.

The real question is: What price are you willing to pay for it?

The Samurai's Bargain with Reality

Miyamoto Musashi: Choosing the Harder Path

​Miyamoto Musashi, perhaps Japan's greatest swordsman, embodied the principle of paying the price like no other warrior in history. Born into a tumultuous period of constant warfare, Musashi had every excuse to seek an easier path. Instead, he chose the way of the sword—a path that demanded everything.

While other young men his age were settling into comfortable lives, Musashi embarked on what he called his "warrior pilgrimage"—musha shugyō.​

For over a decade, he wandered Japan challenging the strongest fighters he could find. He fought over 60 documented duels and never lost one.

But here's what most people don't understand about Musashi's success: it wasn't just about fighting.

The price he paid was complete dedication to his craft. He wrote:

But he also understood that every path demanded its own specific price.

Musashi's daily routine was punishing. He practiced swordwork for hours, studied strategy, meditated, and lived with the constant possibility of death.

While others enjoyed sake and companionship, he chose solitude and discipline. When he could have settled into a comfortable position as a sword instructor, he continued seeking stronger opponents.

His famous quote captures this perfectly:

Musashi understood that the price of mastery was daily victory over your weaker self—choosing the harder path when the easier one was always available.

The result? He became legendary not just for his sword skills, but for his strategic thinking, his art, and his philosophy. But that legend came at the cost of conventional comforts and easy pleasures that most people chase.

Theodore Roosevelt: The Strenuous Life

​Theodore Roosevelt was born sickly and weak, suffering from severe asthma that doctors said would likely kill him before adulthood. The easy path would have been to live as an invalid, accepting physical limitations and focusing on intellectual pursuits from the comfort of his family's wealth.

Instead, Roosevelt chose what his father called "the strenuous life." At age 12, his father built him a gymnasium and told him,

Roosevelt embraced this challenge completely.

The price he paid was brutal. Daily boxing sessions. Weightlifting. Long hikes in harsh weather. Ranch work in the Dakota Territory after his wife's death, when he could have retreated into grief and comfort. He wrote: "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

Roosevelt didn't just overcome his physical weakness—he transformed it into extraordinary strength. He became a boxer, a rancher, a police commissioner, a war hero leading the Rough Riders, and eventually President of the United States. But every achievement came from his willingness to pay the price of discomfort, risk, and relentless effort.

His philosophy was simple:

He understood that the gap between wanting something and having it is bridged only by the willingness to pay whatever price reality demands.

As a cool sidenote, did you know that Theodore Roosevelt was also the first US President to train in martial arts in the White House? He was, he was training in judo.​

The Universal Principle:
Reality's Non-Negotiable Exchange Rate

Here's the uncomfortable truth that most people spend their lives trying to avoid:

Reality has a fixed exchange rate, and it doesn't negotiate.

• You want a strong, healthy body? The price is daily discipline around food, exercise, and rest—even when you don't feel like it.
• You want deep, meaningful relationships? The price is vulnerability, difficult conversations, and putting someone else's needs before your own comfort.
• You want financial security? The price is delayed gratification, smart investments, and often doing work you don't love to build the foundation for work you do love.
• You want mastery in any field? The price is thousands of hours of practice, most of it boring, repetitive, and far from glamorous.

The principle works across all contexts because it reflects a fundamental law of the universe: energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred.

The energy you don't spend on the front end, you'll pay with interest on the back end.

This isn't moral judgment—it's physics.

The woman at the red light isn't a bad person for her choices. But she will pay the price regardless. Either she pays it now through discipline and sacrifice, or she pays it later through disease, limitation, and suffering.

The Warrior Philosophy: Embracing the Inevitable Cost

What makes this "warrior wisdom" rather than simple self-help advice is its unflinching acceptance of life's non-negotiable costs.

Warriors don't waste energy complaining about the price or looking for shortcuts. They calculate the cost and decide whether they're willing to pay it.

The samurai saying "Lose an arm to take a life." isn't about violence—it's about understanding that everything meaningful requires sacrifice.

The arm represents what you give up; the life represents what you gain. But the transaction is mandatory.

Most people approach life like they're at a marketplace, trying to negotiate better terms. They want the health without the discipline, the relationship without the vulnerability, the success without the struggle. They spend their energy looking for hacks, shortcuts, and easier ways.

Warriors understand there is no negotiation with reality. There are only two choices: pay the price upfront through discipline and effort, or pay a much higher price later through consequences and regret.

This mindset transforms how you approach every area of life. Instead of asking "How can I avoid the pain?" you ask "What price am I willing to pay?"

Instead of seeking the easy path, you seek the path that leads where you want to go, regardless of its difficulty.

The Ripple Effects: The Compound Interest of Discipline

When you embrace the principle of paying the price upfront, something remarkable happens. The costs you pay today become investments that pay dividends for decades.

Individually, you develop what psychologists call "self-efficacy"—the deep confidence that comes from knowing you can handle whatever life throws at you.

You stop fearing challenges because you've trained yourself to pay the necessary prices. You become antifragile, getting stronger from the struggles that break others.

The physical discipline creates mental discipline. The mental discipline creates emotional discipline.

Soon, paying the price becomes its own reward—not because you're a masochist, but because you understand the compound returns on discomfort voluntarily embraced.

Professionally, this mindset makes you invaluable. While others look for the easiest way, you look for the most effective way, regardless of difficulty. While others complain about hard work, you're already deep into it. This sets you apart in any field.

In relationships, people respect those who've clearly paid prices for their growth. They sense the depth that comes from someone who's faced their shadows and done the hard work of becoming better. Authenticity and strength are magnetic because they signal that this person won't fold when things get difficult.

Collectively, when more people embrace this principle, we create a culture of excellence rather than mediocrity.

We stop celebrating participation trophies and start honoring real achievement. We build institutions and organizations that can handle challenges because they're led by people who've already paid their prices.

Putting It On the Mat: The Warrior's Transaction

The Price Audit: What Are You Really Buying?

Start with radical honesty about your current choices.

For each area of your life—health, relationships, career, personal growth—ask yourself:

• What result am I currently getting?
• What price am I currently paying for this result?
• What result do I actually want?
• What would be the real price of that result?
• Am I willing to pay that price, or do I just want to want it?

Write this down.

Most people have never done this calculation honestly, which is why they keep getting results they don't want.

Three Levels of Price-Paying Practice

Level 1: Identify the True Cost: Stop fooling yourself about what things actually cost. Research, ask people who have what you want, and get realistic about the time, energy, and sacrifice required. The fantasy version of success is always easier than the reality. Start with small areas where you can practice paying prices voluntarily—maybe waking up 30 minutes earlier or doing something uncomfortable daily.

Level 2: Embrace the Discomfort Exchange: Begin deliberately trading comfort for growth. Instead of seeking the easiest option, seek the most effective one. If you want to lose weight, don't look for the diet that requires the least change—find the approach that works and pay that price. If you want better relationships, have the difficult conversations instead of avoiding them. Train yourself to see discomfort as the price of admission to a better life.

Level 3: Become Antifragile Through Voluntary Hardship: At the advanced level, you actively seek out challenges that make you stronger. Like Roosevelt building his gymnasium or Musashi seeking stronger opponents, you understand that the price of avoiding difficulty is staying weak. You start each day asking not "What can I avoid?" but "What can I embrace that will make me stronger?"

Daily Micro-Practices for Price-Paying

• Morning price commitment: Each morning, identify one specific price you'll pay that day for a result you want
• The harder choice: When faced with options, consciously choose the more difficult one if it leads toward your goals
• Discomfort inventory: Weekly, list the discomforts you avoided and the prices you'll pay later as a result
• Victory documentation: Keep a record of times you paid the price upfront and the benefits that followed

When Your Inner Negotiator Shows Up

Your brain will constantly try to convince you there's an easier way. It will tell you that you're different, that the rules don't apply to you, that you can find a shortcut others missed. This is normal—your brain's job is to conserve energy and avoid pain.

When this happens, remind yourself: The price exists whether you want to pay it or not. The only choice is timing. Pay now through discipline, or pay later through consequence. The later payment always includes compound interest.

The 30-Day Price-Paying Challenge

Here's your challenge for the next month:

1. Days 1-7: Complete your price audit and identify three areas where you've been trying to avoid paying the real cost
2. Days 8-14: Choose one area and commit to paying the daily price, no matter how you feel
3. Days 15-21: Add a second area and document the difference in your results and self-respect
4. Days 22-28: Find someone else who's willing to pay prices for their goals and practice together
5. Days 29-30: Reflect on what you've learned and make a long-term commitment to price-paying as a way of life

Remember: Everyone wants the view, but the view is earned by the willingness to make the climb.

The young woman at the red light isn't wrong for wanting health and vitality. She's simply unwilling to pay the price that reality demands for them.

You have the same choice every day.

What do you want? What price are you willing to pay?

As the samurai understood: lose an arm to take a life. Give up something good to get something better. Pay the price reality demands, or pay a much higher price later.

The choice is always yours. The price is always non-negotiable.

Choose wisely. The view is worth the climb.

Are you sicked and tired of being surrounded by losers, lemmings and Luddites?

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