“Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
What’s Your Juice? Unlock the Energy that Transforms Performance, Fuels Purpose, and Ignites the People Around You will be released next week! Look for details next Sunday on how to get your copy!
I’m excited to share some of the early testimonials:
Thanks for reading The Chasing Influence Coaching Leadership Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
“Finally, a motivational book by a real coach who is a true educator! If you want to know how to motivate others with Juice, get this book!” —Rod Olson, founder, Coaches of Excellence Institute
“What’s Your Juice? is your step-by-step guide to bringing your best self every single day.” —John O’Sullivan, founder, Changing the Game Project
“Belief is more important than ability. This isn’t a self-help book. It’s a help-everyone book.” —Jon Krawczynski, senior writer, The Athletic
“Troy Urdahl takes a three-word phrase—What’s your juice?—and delivers a thought-provoking masterpiece that will make readers examine how they approach their own professional work and daily lives … and ask whether I’m bringing positive energy and juice.” —Chip Scoggins, sports columnist, Minnesota Star Tribune
The Water Carriers
Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to help present at an ISG Baseball clinic in Sweden—two days of sharing ideas, talking baseball, and connecting with fantastic coaches from the Swedish Baseball and Softball Federation. It was fantastic.
On the way home, my wife and I spent a day in Reykjavík, Iceland, hoping to catch the Northern Lights.
As beautiful as they were, it’s something else that caught my attention the next day that really stuck with me. As we wandered the streets, we came across a bronze statue of a woman, bent slightly forward under the weight of her task, carrying two large buckets. We stopped walking to look and figure out what this interesting sculpture was all about.
The sculpture is called Vatnsberinn—The Water Carrier. Created by Icelandic artist Ásmundur Sveinsson, it honors the women who once carried water by hand from the public well to homes throughout Reykjavík, before running water came to the city in the early 1900s. Day after day, through snow and sleet, through Iceland’s wind and long dark winter days, they did what needed to be done so others could keep moving forward.
They just showed up and carried the water without any attention, applause, or awards.
Standing there with my wife on that Reykjavík street, it struck us: the world needs more water carriers.
We live in a time obsessed with visibility—followers, likes, and recognition that’s constantly being measured. But these water carriers of old showed that the most significant work often goes unseen. Pitching in to contribute matters more than getting credit for doing so. Showing up consistently, even when no one notices, is what keeps a community healthy.
In What’s Your Juice, I write that “your energy is a panacea—understand it, own it, and use it to shape your reality.” The water carriers lived that way daily, maybe without ever thinking about it. They couldn’t control the weather, the distance, or the weight of their load, but they controlled their response. They kept going. They turned burden into service, and service into purpose.
Think about the water carriers in our own lives: our parents who sacrificed in ways we will never know. The teacher who stayed late to help us with math. The coach who checks in with a player after a tough loss. The student who makes sure no classmate sits alone at lunch. The volunteer who shows up every Monday night to serve dinner without needing thanks.
These are our modern water carriers. They fill the wells of our communities with hope, encouragement, and opportunity—one trip at a time. And this is you!
The statue that stopped me in my tracks doesn’t show a woman standing tall and proud. She’s bent under the weight. Her body shows the strain. It doesn’t romanticize hard work; it honors it.
Carrying water is hard. Serving others is hard. Showing up day after day for people is exhausting.
The world doesn’t need more people standing at the well—we have plenty of them already. It needs more people like you, willing to pick up the buckets and walk.
Pick up your buckets. Find your well. Start carrying.
The world is better because of you.
“Those who bring water to others seldom thirst.”
Connecting this quote to the story. When we serve and pour into others, we’re replenished ourselves; in carrying the water, we find our own well.
This week’s Chasing Influence tip: Do an unseen act of service for someone else—not for credit, but because it’s the good and right thing to do. That’s how you change the world, one bucket at a time.
If you enjoyed this story, a series of three Chasing Influence workbooks is available. Stories are accompanied by discussion questions and answers. Each workbook contains 33 lessons to use with any team.
