Authbition Weekly — The Paperboy Entrepreneur
What a bike climb and a paper route taught me about the internal shift
Welcome to the weekly newsletter for Authbition—it’s Authenticity and Ambition. It’s the best of the best, built on vulnerability, non-attachment, caring, thoughtfulness, and whole-mindedness.
This week’s episode began on a bike ride up a gradual hill. At 52, I caught myself second-guessing whether my best rides were behind me. Faced with a choice — shift into a lower gear or increase my cadence — I realized it was a this-or-that trap. Playing The Whole Mind Game, I discovered the synergy: Pedaling with Ease. Not just faster, not just easier, but a rhythm found in skill and form.
And here’s the thing — it worked. A couple of days later, I PR’d a climb I’ve ridden for over 20 years, and the same week, I logged close to 170 miles, including one of the best rides of my life. Practicing the game I created, The Whole Mind Game, is changing the way I ride — and the way I live.
That phrase carried me back to my first entrepreneurial lessons as a nine-year-old paperboy. I rode the quiet streets before dawn, managed cash collections, faced down “The Collector,” and even pulled a shady little sales hack that doubled my route. More than the money, I found joy in the work itself — the sunrise, the rhythm of riding, the responsibility that was mine alone.
This episode reminded me that sustainability isn’t about slowing down, and growth isn’t about burning out. The best of the best comes when I find a rhythm that blends both.
What stood out most was learning the value of an internal shift before reaching for external ones. On the bike, that meant adjusting my form and rhythm before hitting the gear shifter. In life, it means pausing before chasing the next hack, scroll, or shortcut — and asking whether the real shift needs to happen inside first.
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Read the featured essay:
The Paperboy Entrepreneur
A grammar school job taught me everything I needed to succeed
This Week’s Highlight Read
My favorite read last week was ‘The Tale of the Cowboy and the Oysters’ by Jojo Techkina. It’s playful on the surface, but there’s wisdom tucked into the humor. A cowboy eating “oysters” off his manure-covered boots while trying to impress a girl might sound absurd, but it made me smile and think about how much value we overlook when it doesn’t show up where we expect it.
I love stories like this because they carry the same lesson in a completely different form than my own reflections — that the shift we need often comes less from what’s outside of us and more from how we choose to see it.
Thank you for taking the time to read, listen, and watch Authbition. I appreciate you.
Health, happiness, kindness, respect
for every being and all things.
— Andrew
