The Team Around You

Much can be said about the people you surround yourself with. But that boils down to this, are they helping or are they hurting?

So, the support system around you is quite important. Many people will say that they are supportive of your goals, but can often falter when it no longer is convenient for them. For example, Many people decide that hey want to lose weight and/or get in shape. Their significant other is initially supportive, until dinner time comes around and they don't really want to eat veggies.

I understand that other people don't want to be inconvenienced, it's natural, but they must look at the bigger picture. If someone desire to better themselves, and be a bit selfish in the process, than it is in everyone's best interest to help him or her on their journey. People who set and achieve goals are happier, translating to all aspects of that person's life.

A note to people who have a bad support system; don't let it discourage you. If it is a goal you need to accomplish for yourself, than you must do it. It may take a bit longer because of the circumstances, that's okay because it is going to be a process anyway. Do your best to surround yourself with positive people when you can, not avoiding negative people because they will always be in your life.

To those who are negative towards goal-driven people; get over yourself and stop it. Those people are simply bettering themselves, don't stand in their way...they'll eventually run you over on their way to success.

The End Result

"You don't have to love the hard work, you just have to crave the end result so intensely that the work becomes irrelevant."
-Tim Grover

Grover is a trainer to the stars, athlete stars anyway. Notable clients include Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade. His words speak volumes about how we should approach our goals.

If we truly want to accomplish a certain thing, than it will take a lot of work. No one will hand it to you. If you want it bad enough, than you will do whatever it takes to get there.

Guess what, goal achievement is not all sunshine. There will be countless hours of intense work that no one will see. Hours spent by yourself, working on your craft, honing your skill, daydreaming about it. It won't always be fun, but if you truly want the end result, than the work that you have to put in, simply won't matter.

The Importance of Basics

Too often we try to to climb the mountain without first learning the ropes.

Our society is fixated on the "magic pill".
"Take this and instantly look like a jacked NFL wide out."
"Drink this and you'll lose 20 pounds and 6 inches in 2 weeks."

We've all seen these product promises, and sometimes we buy into it. The guy on TV said it would work. The model on the website looks great, so it must work. Right?

It happens inside the gym as well. Kids and adults want to the newest, fancy, crazy exercise without building a training base. Sure, squats are as "cool" as the shiny new machine that has an ipad on it that counts your reps for you, even helping with tempo! But look at the return on investment. What really works? Something brand new? Or something that has stood the test of time, like squats, deadlifts, and dips?

We need to get back to perfecting the basics. Do the exercises with perfect technique, build a solid base. Then add weight to the movements, progressive overload. Then, add some fancier things (if you think their still necessary, or just for fun).

By building the solid foundation, climbing the mountain will be much easier. Top performance will be gained much quicker.

Learn the ropes first, through old-fashioned hard work.

Barbell Lessons

"200 pounds is always 200 pounds."
- Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins, from the bands Black Flag and Rollins Band, has a great story about about how lifting weights changed his life. I'd encourage you to read that story here. Or listen to him speak on this topic on his podcast here.

In both, he talks about be this nobody, a picked on, beat up, scrawny kid. But one teacher took an interest in him. This teacher taught him how to lift. Henry was to train daily, and hard. And he was told not to look in the mirror at himself for four month while training.

What happened in the training was more than physical. Sure, he developed muscle and was clearly stronger. But the biggest gain was his confidence. He walked the halls a little taller, he was actually picked for sports teams - not as a last resort. He wasn't picked on nearly as much. What he learned from those early training days was invaluable. And it happens to many people who begin training. They realize that the gym is the most truthful place there is. The iron (or rubber if you're using bumper plates) will never lie to you. You can't just say you lift x amount of weight. The weights themselves will tell you whether you can or cannot lift x amount of weight. You can't hide from it. It only takes hard work. Everything that you have accomplished in the gym is earned. You can't cheat success in the gym. It's life lessons. Everything worthy is earned through hard work. And it must be proven every day.

Good Enough

I recently watched an Olympic weightlifting video with coach Anders Lindsjo from the Swedish national team. In the video he was watching/instructing an accomplished exerciser on the snatch lift. After each set, he asks the lifter if it is “good enough”.

That’s a powerful question, isn’t it? Good enough? See, many of us are satisfied with good enough. It gets the job done, right? We are able to tell ourselves that the work is good, and that we’ve accomplished something. But what is “good enough”? Who decides?

The question is mentally challenging, and draining. Because we should, ideally, never be satisfied.

“Show me a man who is satisfied and I’ll show you a failure.” – Thomas Edison

Can you continue to accept “good enough”? Do you want to? Are you content with “just ok” Or do you want greatness?

There is certainly nothing wrong with failing. In fact, it is a great teacher. But settling on “good enough” is simply not good enough. Challenge yourself daily. Whether it is with exercise, like in the video below, or with your diet, or with your job. Why not be the best?

What, for you, is no longer good enough?

On to the next one.

Expectations

We cannot allow our expectations, or standards to drop. As a coach, I must have high expectations for my athletes to meet, or be in the process of attaining. If I allow my expectations for them to drop, even slightly, than the most I can reasonably expect from them is that lower bar. Most will only achieve to the heights that I have set for them. True, a few will have a very high bar for themselves, therefore achieving greater than my expectations.

Lowering the bar for my athletes, dropping my standards of excellence will make the athletes comfortable, make things easy. And the athletes will reach them with regularity. And I understand that may give them confidence, but it won’t show them that there is a next level that could have been reached. They will be less prepared for future challenges.

The best coaches, of which I am not, and the best players, of which I was not, set extremely high standards for their athletes and themselves. They are never satisfied with their place in life. They recognize how hard they have to work to get to that bar, but as soon as they get closer, either they, or they their coach, pushes that bar even higher. Knowing that they haven’t reached their potential just yet.

We all need to do the same in our lives. myself included. We need to raise our expectations for our job performance, family life, spiritual life, and as physical beings. Why do we settle for “good enough” expectations? We need to coach ourselves to achieve more.

Where is you bar set? How high can you raise it?

On to the next one.

The Stairs

Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, google him if you’ve not heard of his greatness, took the stairs over the elevators. Okay, I don’t know that for sure, but maybe.

What I mean though, is that there is almost always, in any situation, an easy way out. You could quit, you could cheat, whatever it may be. That option is there, and is usually readily available. But for the people who want to be successful, they know the hard work is necessary. For them, there is no elevator, or easy way to the top. Even if they were to get to the top with the elevator, I doubt they would be satisfied, because they invested so little in the achievement. But the ones who take the stairs, know the value of hard work, know that they have achieved something worthwhile.

Jordan said about returning to basketball after a brief baseball hiatus; “I forgot how to take the stairs.” He was talking about putting in the required hours to be the best. He had, maybe unknowingly, relaxed a little in his efforts to be the best basketball player he could be. He had, after all, just won his third straight NBA title. Maybe he was content with his ability and his effort. But baseball changed that for him. He was once again a beginner. I pretty athletic beginner, but still someone wh had something to prove. He knew if he was to succeed with baseball, he was going to have to take the stairs. There was no elevator to the Big Leagues. He would have to take it one stair at a time, put in the work.

I absolutely believe that this fundamental change in mindset for him was a major reason why he won three more championships when he returned to basketball. He wasn’t going to take the elevator. He still had work to do, still had skills to improve upon. Still had something to prove.

Think about that for a minute, the best basketball player in the world, still needing to prove something. Still taking the stairs.

What if we all had that mindset? That we weren’t done yet, that we still had to prove ourselves. What if we still took the stairs?

What steps are you taking?

On to the next one.