Long Live the Modern-Day Thinker

I’m Sam Elsner. I’m just a guy who’s obsessed with how things grow.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by the human machine—how it adapts, how it breaks, and how it rebuilds.

That obsession started at 13 on a football field. I wanted to go pro. I spent years inventing new ways to optimize myself in the margins, outside of practice. Eventually, that focus shifted to the discus.

And on paper? I made it.

2x NCAA DIII National Champion.

6x All-American.

2016 Olympic Trials Qualifier.

But here’s the thing: I was a drill sergeant to my own talent. I drilled the movements over and over in isolation. But when the lights came on and the crowd roared? It didn’t transfer. The skill stayed in the practice ring.

In 2019, I hung up the shoes and went all-in on coaching. I trained my athletes exactly how I had trained myself: rigid structures, high instruction, zero variability.

And the pattern repeated. They were world-class in the weight room. They were average on game day.

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Until I changed the lens.

In 2020, a friend introduced me to the Ecological Dynamics Model. It’s a fancy way of saying that you can’t separate the organism from its environment. Skill isn’t a program you download; it’s a relationship you negotiate with the world around you.

That idea shattered everything I thought I knew.

I spent the next three years rebuilding my systems from the ground up. I stopped trying to control the athlete and started designing the environment. And suddenly, the results showed up when it actually mattered.

Now, I’m taking that framework out of the gym and into the rest of life.

That is the genesis of Calibrate.

We are constantly calibrating to the world around us. Solutions don’t come from force; they emerge from the mess.

So, welcome. This isn’t a classroom. It’s a playground for messy learning.

Because that’s the only kind that sticks.

— Sam

3 comments