Books: "Undeniable," By Cameron Hanes

 

Undeniable: How to Reach the Top and Stay There

By Cameron Hanes

St. Martin's Press; 336 pages; hardcover, $35.00; $16.99 EBook; available today, Tuesday, May 6th

Cameron Hanes is a master motivator, as he has inspired people through his writings, television appearances, and social media postings. His first book was ENDURE, which demonstrated how to push beyond your physical limits to improve yourself. Hanes also has a podcast, Keep Hammering Collective, that highlights outliers who have accomplished extraordinary things and helps listeners find motivation in their everyday lives. 

Hanes' Life, Run, Shoot Experience has become a hugely popular event. The thing Hayes loves most is bowhunting and the remote wildernesses of the West and Alaska, which he wrote about in his book and discussed with podcast megastar Joe Rogan. To prepare for each bow season, he shoots his bow every single day of the year, trains in the weight room seven days a week, and runs 200+ mile ultra marathons during the off-season in an effort to toughen up for the mental and physical tests they'll confront in the backcountry. 

Undeniable: How to Reach the Top and Stay There is Hanes' new book, and he brings together men and women who are experts in their field, known as outliers, to share their unique and motivating perspectives on making it to the pinnacle of success, and most importantly, staying there. There is a foreword by Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D.

"I like people who put themselves in a position to become undeniable at what they do," Hanes writes. "You might not like me, but you cannot deny the work I put in and the results show for it. You can say whatever the f**k you want, but I want to be undeniable and how it makes you feel is no factor."

Hanes, while seeking his own pursuit of greatness, has trained and interviews with NFL Super Bowl champions, MMA fighters, international track stars, and those who have earned their "names" and accolades in all disciplines of life.

In this excerpt, Hay=nes writes of what motivates him: My world used to be 20 miles big. When I was a teenager, I lived in a small logging community 20 miles outside of Springfield, Oregon. A big trip would be to go to town - where the "flatlanders" lived - to get pizza or see a movie or hang out in a bar. Growing up, I was a guy with my head down, always looking at the ground, never really finding a reason to look up and have dreams. Those 20 miles represented my life's universe.

Chances are, you know what happened next. By now, you probably know my origin story: how a guy going nowhere got brought into the world of bowhuting by a high school friend named Roy Ruth. Things started to happen, and all of a sudden my gaze began to go up. I started looking farther: To places like the mountains way over in eastern Oregon. The Eagle Cup Wilderness. The wilderness was a lot more than 20 miles. To me, that was a whole other world. Soon it became my world.

The bigger the world became, the stronger my mission inside it grew. On my quest to become the best bowhunter I could be, I soon realized how many others were on similar quests in their lives. I found so many connections in this big world of ours. One day I received a tweet with an invitation to come to Los Angeles and talk about bow hunting and fitness with Joe Rogan, and I discovered that my quest was a lot bigger than I thought it was. Suddenly I found myself looking toward the mountains - toward any mountain in sight - and wondering what was on the other side of them.

That's how it always starts. It begins with this person who has no real reason to dream. No reason to be confident and nothing to be excited about. A head down and a heart desolate. But then something happens. Little changes start to take place.

One person believing in you gives you motivation.

One person doubting you gives you fuel.

One passion gives you purpose.

One victory gives you confidence to keep going.

It all starts with that small journey. And as I always say, if I did it, anyone can.