“Most people come looking for Progress. What they actually need is better rooting”
Almost every entrepreneur who comes into my world for the first time shows up the same way. They want tactics. They want action. They want to know what to do next to move the needle. In Episode 113 of Spencer Uncensored — built on the roots and fruits principle I first heard from T. Harv Eker and the biological framework Myron Golden introduced me to — we go deeper than tactics. Because Progress is the top of the pyramid. And most people are trying to build the top floor before the foundation is even poured.
The Entry Point Problem
The Qualified Champions Framework has five building blocks stacked like a pyramid. Progress sits at the top — flexibility and feedback. Below it is Performance — belief and systems. Below that is Power — accountability and resource stewardship. Then Priorities. Then Purpose at the base. And underneath the entire pyramid is the soil — Drift to Drive, the Movement work, the activation layer where a seed decides to become a tree.
Most people come in through the top. Within twenty minutes of a real conversation we’re nowhere near tactics. We’re in the roots. That’s always the conversation that changes things.
Most people want the fruit without the root. And Cultural Gravity keeps it that way — because tactics feel productive and root work feels uncomfortable.
Two Directions Simultaneously
Myron Golden introduced me to two biological terms I’d never heard before. Gravitropism — the way roots are literally programmed to grow toward pressure, toward resistance, toward the hard direction. And phototropism — the way the canopy reaches toward the light. Two directions. Simultaneously. From the moment the seed is planted.
Those two movements aren’t in conflict. They’re in contract. The depth below is the only reason the freedom above is structurally possible. The fruit doesn’t come before the root. Ever.
A palm tree survives a hurricane not because it’s stronger than the wind — because it’s flexible above ground and anchored below. The bend is not weakness. It is the evidence of roots.
The Feedback Loop vs The Validation Loop
Most people don’t have a feedback loop. They have a validation loop.
A feedback loop asks — what actually happened and what does it tell me? A validation loop asks — what confirms that what I’m already doing is working? One is built on reality. One is built on comfort. Cultural Gravity loves a validation loop. It keeps you adjusting the fruit while the roots stay shallow.
Most people aren’t running a feedback loop. They’re running a validation loop. And Cultural Gravity is the one feeding it.
Trading Problems Up
Going from mediocrity to peak performance isn’t about solving your problems. It’s about trading them up for better quality ones. As Blair Singer put it — big problems only happen to little people. Qualified Champions constantly level up their problems. Their capacity grows with them.
Tony Robbins said it this way — when we lose we tend to ponder, when we win we tend to party. The Qualified Champion does both. And as Tim Grover reminds us — anyone can learn to compete. Not everyone knows how to win. The difference is the ability to read feedback and adjust without losing direction.
You Might Not Be Stuck
If you’re in a season where things feel slower than you want — where the effort isn’t matching the result yet — consider this.
You might not be stuck. You might be rooting.
The roots don’t make noise. They don’t show up on the dashboard. They just go deeper. And every inch of depth below the surface is an inch of stability that will hold you when the storm comes.
You’re not stuck. You’re rooting. And the depth you’re building right now is the only reason the fruit above ground will hold when it comes.
Watch Episode 113
Find out which pattern is running you and where your root work needs to go deepest. Take the free Defiant Assessment at unshakeablesecrets.com. Three to five minutes.
Stay Defiant — keep rooting,
Spencer Combs | The Defiant Coach
About Spencer Combs
Spencer Combs is a business coach, speaker, and author of Momentum & Mastery — the business leader’s guide to building unshakeable profit, productivity, and purpose. Known as The Defiant Coach, Spencer helps entrepreneurs and high performers identify the unconscious patterns keeping them stuck and build the framework to break free from Cultural Gravity.
Spencer is the founder of Defiant Resources and the creator of the Unshakeable Framework — a methodology built around the 5 Arenas of Mastery and the 4 Power Patterns that has helped hundreds of business owners move from productive to purposeful.
When he’s not coaching or speaking, Spencer volunteers as a docent at the USS Orleck DD-886 Naval Destroyer Museum in Jacksonville, Florida — where he lives with his wife Amy.
Connect with Spencer: 🌐 spencercombs.com 📋 Free Defiant Assessment: unshakeablesecrets.com 📘 Momentum & Mastery: www.momentumandmastery.com