Founder

Ashtyn Watkins-Shaw

Ash is an operator and systems builder based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, with a background spanning hospitality, training, and systems work.

Almost Fast Enough is his proving ground — a place to document the discipline of building consistency across training, health, mindset, and business, without turning life into optimisation theatre.

After years working as a Chef, Personal Trainer, and inside growing businesses, Ash became less interested in doing more — and more focused on building calm systems that hold up under pressure.

Almost Fast Enough

A quiet place to build consistency alongside others doing the same.

Enter the Community

Almost Fast Enough

A public journal on pace, consistency, and building systems that hold. Exploring training, work, and life beyond optimisation — choosing routines you can return to, even on imperfect days. ...more

The Journey

January 17, 2026•9 min read

Books That Shaped the Work

Not summaries — reflections on ideas that changed how I train, work, and think.

Go One More - Nick Bare

Why it matters

This book reframed discipline for me. Not as intensity or motivation, but as identity built through repetition.

The idea of “going one more” isn’t about pushing harder — it’s about keeping promises to yourself when no one is watching. Training, business, and life all respond to the same input: consistent effort over time, applied calmly.

This book reinforced that progress is rarely dramatic. It compounds quietly.

BE 2.0 — Jim Collins & Bill Lazier

Why it matters

BE 2.0 is less about strategy and more about who you are becoming while you build.

What stayed with me was the emphasis on personal discipline, responsibility, and long-term thinking — especially the idea that leadership starts internally before it shows up externally.

This book reinforced that sustainable success is character-led, not tactics-led.

The Molecule of More — Daniel Z. Lieberman & Michael E. Long

Why it matters

This book helped me understand why chasing “more” never actually satisfies.

By breaking down dopamine-driven behaviour, it clarified why novelty, optimisation, and constant future focus can quietly erode presence and contentment — even when things are going well.

It shaped how I think about ambition, restraint, and designing systems that don’t hijack the nervous system.

Let My People Go Surfing — Yvon Chouinard

Why it matters

This book showed me that business doesn’t have to be extractive to be successful.

Chouinard’s philosophy — build things well, respect people, respect the environment, and play the long game — deeply influenced how I think about work, culture, and sustainability.

It’s a reminder that values are not a branding exercise. They’re operational decisions made daily.

The War of Art — Steven Pressfield

Why it matters

This book gave language to something I already felt: resistance is predictable, not personal.

Pressfield’s framing helped me stop negotiating with excuses and start building rituals instead. The work gets done not because you feel ready, but because you show up regardless.

This thinking underpins Almost Fast Enough — discipline as a practice, not a mood.

Purpose and Profit — Dan Koe

Why it matters

Purpose and Profit bridged the gap between meaning and modern work.

What stood out wasn’t tactics, but the emphasis on clarity of intent — knowing why you’re building something, who it’s for, and what kind of life it needs to support.

This book reinforced the idea that alignment isn’t found. It’s designed.

Behind Almost Fast Enough

A project about how we live, not how we optimise.

Almost Fast Enough exists as a counterweight.

To speed.
To optimisation.
To the idea that life improves by endlessly adding more.

It’s a place to explore what happens when you slow the lens down — and pay attention to how you train, work, rest, and make decisions over time.

Not perfectly.
Just consistently.

The Pillars

Consistency Over Intensity

Most change doesn’t come from big moments.
It comes from ordinary days handled well.

This project is built around the belief that showing up consistently — even when energy is low or motivation is absent — matters more than short bursts of intensity.

The question isn’t how hard can you push, but how reliably can you return.

Identity Before Outcomes

Outcomes are visible. Identity is not.

Almost Fast Enough explores the idea that the fastest way to change results is to pay closer attention to who you’re becoming through your daily actions.

Training, work, and habits are all expressions of identity — not tools for self-improvement, but votes for the type of person you’re reinforcing.

Pressure, Recovery, and Longevity

Pushing is easy. Sustaining is harder.

This work is interested in pressure that can be held — not just endured. That means paying attention to recovery, nervous system load, and the quiet cost of living in constant urgency.

A useful question here is simple:
How long could you live like this?

Alignment Between Life and Work

Many people build systems that work against the life they want.

Almost Fast Enough looks at alignment — between ambition and health, work and rest, progress and presence. Not as a moral stance, but as a practical one.

If your systems demand everything, eventually they take it.

This isn’t about doing less.
It’s about doing what holds — long enough to matter.