A forgotten block of marble. A young artist. And a lesson for all of us.

Hi there,

On Saturday, my younger brother graduated university and during the ceremony the dean shared an inspiring story about the statue of David by Michelangelo.

So I did a little digging, to understand it better, and now, to share what it sparked in me.

The Opportunity: A Flawed Block of Marble

In the late 1400s, a massive 8-ton block of marble lay abandoned in Florence. It was originally intended for a sculpture, two artists had tried and failed. They’d chipped at it, deemed it too difficult, and left it for scrap.

It sat untouched for 40 years.

Then came Michelangelo.
Not a legend. Not yet.
Just 26 years old.

He didn’t ask for better tools.
He didn’t ask for new materials.
He didn’t complain about what others had done to it.
He accepted the challenge of working with what was already there: cracks, flaws, all of it.

The Work: Three Years of Unseen Effort

He worked in silence.
No spotlight. No hype cycle.
Just chisels, mallets, and a vision only he could see.
He worked day after day for almost three years.

He said something like this:

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

But here’s the truth most people miss:

• He didn’t “find” David.

• He decided David was in there.

• And then he did the unglamorous, frustrating, lonely work of setting him free.

That’s us.
Our potential is already inside.
But nobody’s coming to chisel it out. No tool will do it for us.

The Lesson: You Are the Sculptor AND the Stone

You are not a blank canvas waiting for inspiration.
You’re already a block of marble, heavy with your past, your habits, your beliefs.

You don’t need to download your ideal self.
You need to carve it out.

And just like Michelangelo:

• You’ll mess up.

• You’ll be tempted to quit.

• Others won’t get it.

But if you keep showing up,
if you keep chipping away,
you’ll uncover something powerful:

The you beneath the noise.
The you that was waiting.
The you that was always inside.

In coaching, we’d call this a Mirror Moment, the decision to face yourself as you are, not as you wish you were.

And here’s the trap of our time:

Today, we’re told AI can do everything, write for us, think for us, coach us, even “be” us.

But becoming you — the real, raw, resilient you?

That’s not something you can outsource.

You can’t automate courage.
You can’t download integrity.
You can’t prompt your way to peace.

You must do the work.

Your Turn

So the question is:
What’s the first chisel strike you need to make this week?

Not the perfect one.
Not the final one.

Just the next one.

Because David wasn’t revealed in one blow.
He emerged stroke by stroke, from the hands of someone willing to start.

Can You Help Me?

I’ve been working with a marketing intern this past month, and together we just launched the website for The Reforged Leader program.
If you’ve got 2 minutes, I’d love your thoughts.
What do you think of it? Anything you’d change? Add?

https://www.thereforgedleader.com/
Thank you for being part of this with me.

Your coach and friend,
Carlos

PS: Here’s a proud big bro moment