Sit, Stand, Walk, Run, Soar
You can't soar on purpose — you soar because you sat, stood, walked and ran first.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 85%
Asked about financial setbacks hitting young people, Storey rejects the fast-money framing and calls himself a builder. His diagnosis is that expectations are too high and people are trying to get it too fast. The sequence is fixed: first you sit and learn, then you stand in what you learned, then you walk it out. Walk long enough and you're suddenly running — three restaurants become four, then seven, then thirteen. Most people never reach the fifth phase, soaring, and Storey's key insight is that soaring is not something you initiate. It happens to you, without you realising, because of the four phases underneath. The people you gawk at are simply further along the same road.
Origin
Storey built this from his own trajectory and from life-coaching what he calls the greatest minds in the world for 18 years — all of whom, he says, had to sit, stand and walk. He also names his own soaring moments: looking out from a stage in his 20s to see Denzel Washington in the crowd, and presidents summoning him when he visited their countries.
Core principles
- 01There are five sequential phases and none can be skipped.
- 02Most people are walking while resenting that they aren't soaring.
- 03Running arrives suddenly — it is the compounding phase, not the goal.
- 04Soaring is not something you initiate; it happens to you.
- 05The people you gawk at soaring all sat, stood and walked first.
- 06Unrealistic expectations, not lack of talent, are what stall most people.
How to run it
- 1
Sit and learn
The first phase is stationary and receptive. You are acquiring, not producing. Storey studies what he doesn't know and what he wants to master — that's what sitting looks like.
- 2
Stand in what you learned
Take a position on the knowledge. You've moved from acquiring to owning it, but you're not yet moving with it.
- 3
Walk it out
Apply it in the world, slowly. This is where most people are and where most of the resentment lives, because walking looks nothing like soaring.
Pro tip Enjoy the walking. Storey says the failure isn't the walk, it's not enjoying the walk because you want to soar.
Watch out Trying to jump from walking to soaring is what makes people quit or chase virality.
- 4
Recognise the running
You walk, you walk, you walk, and then suddenly you're running — the business takes off, three restaurants become thirteen. Storey calls this being in passion.
- 5
Let the soaring happen
Most people never reach it, and nobody reaches it by trying. It happens to you without you realising — you look up and think 'what the heck?'
Pro tip Storey's eagle image: just when you think you've hit the highest soaring spot, another gust hits and takes you higher.
Watch out You cannot take flight on your own. Attempting to is the definition of trying to get it too fast.
In the wild
Speaking in his 20s, he looked out from the stage and saw Denzel Washington in the audience. Then in another city, another major actress. Then presidents in foreign countries began summoning him to meet the young leader.
→ He describes it as soaring he could not have taken flight on himself — it came through the process of sitting, standing, walking, running.
Hala describes seeing people go viral overnight and start companies seven years ago, and feeling jealous. Storey agrees with her conclusion: none of those people are around now.
→ Those who skipped straight to running had no backbone or foundation, burned out, and couldn't keep what they'd caught by accident.
Common mistakes
Setting expectations at 'soar'
Storey's direct diagnosis of financial frustration: expectations are too high and people are trying to get it too fast. The phase is fine; the expectation is broken.
Trying to take flight
Soaring is a consequence, not an action. Effort spent trying to initiate it is effort not spent walking, which is the only thing that actually gets you there.
Not enjoying the walk
Most people are walking and hating it because they want to soar. The walk is where the foundation gets built — resenting it doesn't shorten it.
Is it for you?
Best for
People in their 20s and 30s facing financial setbacks, and anyone comparing their walk to someone else's soar.
Not ideal for
Someone whose real problem is a wrong path, where more patience just extends a mistake.
From the transcript
“First, you got to sit and learn. Then, you stand in what you learned. And then, you walk. You walk it out.”
“You can soar, too. If you learn to sit, stand, walk, run, you're going to soar without even realizing you're soaring.”
“I think that a lot of people's expectations are too high and they're trying to get it too fast. So, I think that you need…”
From the episode
Tim Storey: The Mindset Shift That Turns Setbacks into Extraordinary Comebacks
Tim Storey