Nick HutchisonFounder and CEO, BookThinkers

In “Becoming Spartan” by Brian Duncanson, one line stopped me in my tracks:

24 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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1:07

In a brief, first‑person monologue recorded while riding a bike, Nick Hutchison reflects on his recent reading of Becoming Spartan by Brian Duncanson. He highlights the Spartan ethos quoted in the foreword by co‑founder Joe De Sena – that pushing a person to total physical and mental exhaustion does not break them but instead awakens them. Hutchinson connects this principle to his own extensive experience in obstacle‑course races (Spartan), hybrid endurance events (HYROX, DEKA), and long‑distance triathlons (two Ironman 70.3s and an upcoming full Ironman 140.6). He describes the intense pain he endured in a recent race, likening it to being “shot in both legs” and spending time in the “pain cave,” yet emphasizes that the suffering led to a personal awakening. He extends the lesson to business, arguing that a soft world requires deliberate discomfort to truly feel human and achieve growth. The video concludes with a direct recommendation to purchase Becoming Spartan for anyone seeking that energy.

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I'm sorry if I ever gift you a book and it looks like I spilled water on it. Sometimes that's actually just sweat because I love to read on the bike. I just finished up Becoming Spartan by the co-founder of Spartan, Brian Duncanson, and I had to flip all the way back to the foreword by Joe De Sena because they state the Spartan ethos, which is this: if you push a human being to the point of total physical and mental exhaustion, they don't break, they finally wake up. And that's a great way to summarize my experience with obstacle races like Spartan. I've done a bunch of them. Hybrid events like HYROX and now DEKA by Spartan, as well as the Ironman events. I've done 2 70.3s and I've got a full 140.6 coming up soon, which is why I'm on the bike. And I feel like the idea here is that the world is soft and it's only by embracing discomfort in business and with your body that you can truly wake up and see what it feels like to be a human being, to push through the pain I felt like I got shot in both of my legs during my last race. I was in the pain cave for a while. It was tough, but I woke up. And if you need that kind of energy, grab a copy of Becoming Spartan.