Hold the Line

“If one can stick to the training throughout the many long years, then will power is no longer a problem. It’s raining? That doesn’t matter. I am tired? That’s besides the point. It’s simply that I just have to.” -Emil Zatopek

I’m not much for holding hands, spoon feeding or coddling.

So let’s just get that out of the way right now.

Today, I am going to be that little voice in your head.

You know who I am talking about…

The one guy, that singular voice, or that internal will. The one voice that screams at you to be better, even in your failure. Or better yet, the voice that tells you that you can be better even in your success!

This voice has been known to say…

• “Press on!”
• “Don’t eat that!”
• “Get up!”
• “Be better!”
• “Run faster!”

That voice inside you will die if you don’t listen to it. Once it’s gone you are sure to be on the road of mediocrity, lost dreams and unachieved goals.

Today, I tell you to hold the line.

Why?

Because no one else will.

Years trudge on, goals fade and become distant memories, and most people are OK with that.

But you aren’t!

I believe that if you are reading this, you want to hold the line.

You want to be better.

So let’s do it!

What is holding the line?

I think to start we have to get you a bit fired up!

So watch the 20 seconds of the embedded video above and you should be good to go!

That video will also give you a good understanding of what it means to hold the line.

“Holding the Line” is simply not yielding to the pressure of a difficult situation.

• It’s not giving up…
• It’s holding yourself to a standard…
• It’s sticking to it…

Now, you know!

Let’s talk about holding that line.

The Easiest Way to Hold the Line

Make your bed.

Womp, womp…

You get all fired up watching Kind Leonidas holding the line in an epic battle scene and then I tell you to make your bed…

What gives?

Naval Admiral William McRaven nails it in his commencement speech a the University of Texas, Austin:

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.”

You see, holding the line is not something you need to epically prepare yourself for.

• You don’t train for months to be able to hold the line…
• You don’t chug a pre-workout drink to hold the line…
• You don’t have a big meal in order to hold the line…

You hold the line by doing it each and every single day.

You do the little things.

You press on each day knowing that holding the line in every little way will lead to you holding the line in every big way.

How do you do anything?

I am a firm believer of this quote:

“How you do anything is how you do everything.”

So if you feel you aren’t holding the line, just ask yourself two questions:

How do I do anything?

Is that how I do everything?

Its a great way to examine yourself.

Now, if you think I really wrote this entire article JUST to tell you to make your bed…you’re wrong!

I’m making a point here.

• If you want to hold the line…
• If you want discipline…
• If you want to know what it takes to have a clean diet…
• If you want to know what it takes to workout every day…
• If you want to know what it takes to break PRs…
• If you want to know what it takes to run faster…
• If you want to know what it takes to be better…

It takes YOU holding the line in every part of your life.

So let’s end where we began:

“If one can stick to the training throughout the many long years, then will power is no longer a problem. It’s raining? That doesn’t matter. I am tired? That’s besides the point. It’s simply that I just have to.” -Emil Zatopek

Hold the line as long as you can, and the pressure of holding it will disappear.

The very act of holding the line makes it easier.

Let’s hold the line!

Let’s be better!

-Jerred