Today, it’s time for a little tough love. We live in a world where everyone gets a trophy, right? A lot of us are coddled and shielded from the truth…Well, today, you get an Eo3-sized portion of the truth.
I’m a nice guy, but I’m not a liar.
I will not tell you what you are doing is great, when it’s not. I will not tell you that your minimal effort is good enough, when it isn’t. I will not tell you that everything will be ok, when it won’t be.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel!! Read on my friends!!
Gradual Decline, Gradual Acceptance
Maybe you’re getting older…maybe your time is becoming more consumed…or maybe Toby Keith has got your number (No, I am not a Toby Keith fan)…
I ain’t as good as I once was
I got a few years on me now
But there was a time, back in my prime
When I could really lay it down…
…I ain’t as good as I once was
But I’m as good once as I ever was
Whatever it is, most people will suffer from a gradual decline…which, in turn, results in gradual acceptance. Put simply, over time, people get a little bit worse. At first, they hate it, then they get used to it and then they set a new level of acceptance. This will happen multiple times over the course of a person’s life.
Top 3 reasons for gradual acceptance and decline:
- Comparison – It is easy to say…I may not be in the best shape, but I am better than (my neighbor, friend, co-worker, others my age). You should always hold yourself to your OWN standards, not anyone else’s. If you are good enough for you – that’s perfect. If you are not good enough for you, even if you are a little better off than those around you, you need to get to work!!
[wpcol_divider] - Laziness – The path of least resistance. It is always easier to do nothing than it is to do something. Humans, me, you and everyone are all inherently lazy. It’s those who let laziness win that are worse off than they want to be. Fighting comfort and doing work is something that needs to be practiced and laziness will not be as natural.
[wpcol_divider] - Career-success trumps fitness – Time is money, right? So to “waste†your time on getting fit is to waste your money-making potential. Or maybe you look at it as, I may not be that fit, but look at how much I have accomplished. This goes back to the comparison problem too, in the mindset – I may not be as fit as him/her but I have way more money than them. Once again…WHO CARES! Are you good enough for you? If you are, that’s perfect. If you’re not…get to work!
It’s Not Good Enough!
Basically, I am saying all of this to let you know that what you are doing is not good enough. You need to set the bar higher, be good enough for you, stretch yourself a little bit further and push yourself harder.
Are any of these you?
- You are walking when you should be running
- You are lifting weights that are too easy
- You are giving up at the first sign of pain or discomfort
Fitness is not a daily check mark to make you feel better about yourself. Results are 100% correlated to effort. If your results are waning, what you are doing is not good enough.
Being Good Enough
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
I have said it multiple times…Be good enough for YOU! I do not have some standard you need to meet to be “good enoughâ€, but are you good enough for you? Are you happy with yourself? If the answer is no, then let’s get good enough.
- Don’t accept gradual decline – First things first, do not accept a general decline! Set your “baseline†today. A baseline is not a set of lofty goals, a baseline…is a baseline. Simply set your “I will never be worse thanâ€: pants/dress size, mile time, squat max, bodyweight, etc. This is your new baseline and you will always strive to keep your baseline. If you are not progressing, you better not be regressing.
[wpcol_divider] - Don’t let things “just happen†– Time to become a proactive individual. Do not let things happen then “deal with it†after it has happened. Prepare for the bad situations and the worst case scenarios and you may never end up in them. Yes, the holidays are coming. Yes, you have to travel regularly for work. Whatever the case may be, plan to get ahead of these situations with your fitness. Don’t let 20 lbs. “just happen†this holiday season.
[wpcol_divider] - Don’t be like everyone else – I was once told “If you are doing things unlike everyone else, you are probably doing pretty wellâ€. I live by that. If you start to wake up early to workout, or bring in multiple healthy meals and snacks to work or even try working out more than once in a day, you will make others around you feel uncomfortable. When others get uncomfortable, they will most likely make fun of you or try to discourage you, in a playful way, of course. You have to have it in you to say, “Screw you!â€, I am doing this for me. Let them be uncomfortable, let them be normal, average and mediocre. That is no longer you! You are going to be you.
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Maybe what you are doing today is not good enough…sorry, but tomorrow what you will be doing is going to be good enough!
All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.
-Scott Alexander
Go out and give it your all!
-Jerred