Dear Pursuit, Tonight, tens of millions will watch a championship basketball game. A team from Michigan and a team from Connecticut. My team, Duke, isn’t playing tonight. But nights like these always bring me back to you, Pursuit. I learned a lot about you from a man with a last name that is very hard to spell. People know him by a single letter: K. I met Mike Krzyzewski through a small-world connection. My client Brooke is the older sister of Jon Scheyer. At the time, Jon was an associate head coach. She told me, “You have to meet my brother. Duke would love Dear World.” A few conversations later, I found myself inside the Duke locker room. Coach K had already won four national championships. He was chasing his fifth—what would become his last. Somehow, that pursuit included me and the Dear World experience. Over two summer days, I sat with each player. They wrote their message. At a team dinner, each stood in front of their teammates with their Dear World portrait projected behind them. It wasn’t about basketball. It was about who they were when no one was watching. That season, those photographs became a part of the team’s story & culture. “We’d pull them out,” Jon told me. “And Coach would ask, Is this how you’ve been playing?” A simple question. A brutal one. Are you living up to the moment you said mattered? That team went on to win it all. Coach K’s fifth and final national championship. At the rally after, he shouted us out. I almost fell out of my chair. But what stayed with me came later. When I asked him what his message to the world would be, he didn’t hesitate. Pursue moments. He told me he doesn’t sit back on what he’s already done and whether it was great or not. He’s always chasing the next moment. Sometimes it’s individual. Sometimes it’s shared. Life, to him, is about pursuing the very best moments you can find. Again and again. And not to look back. Funny enough, Coach K reached the championship game 11 times. So he won 5 and lost 6. Coach K moves on and pursues the next play, the next game, the next moment. So what are you to me Pursuit? You create tension. You bring butterflies, fear, energy. You ask something of me. To pursue means I’ve decided not to look back but to throw myself it the next moment. And if life is a just a collection of moments, then the quality of our life is defined by the moments we choose to pursue. So here’s the question. What are you, dear reader, actually pursuing right now? Not what sounds good. Not what you say you want. What are you in motion toward? If you don’t know, start here. Name the moment. Decide if it’s yours alone or shared. Be honest about what it will cost. Then take one step that makes it real. Because pursuit isn’t an idea. It’s a decision, followed by movement. Right now, I’m pursuing this book. In the next 30 days, I will interview 15 people and listen closely to their stories. And tonight, while everyone watches a championship game, I’ll be thinking about you Pursuit. Because win or lose, those kids, coaches and staff are showing what it means to pursue the moment. Sincerely, RXF PS: Watch Coach K talk about how we helped Duke win his final national championship. Want to forward or share this story to someone who might need it? Use the same link: https://stories.dearworld.com/book/what-coach-k-taught-me-about-pursuit
