I can’t lie to you. Yesterday I had to will myself to get out of bed. Our family has been so busy the past few weeks, I didn’t sleep well that night. I had every excuse in the book to not get out of bed and tap out for the day. I know I am not the only person here who has faced this challenge before, and it certainly won’t be the last time this happens. I finally convinced myself to get up, and man I am happy I did. Once I arrived at the gym, the interactions with our members and energy you guys brought, along with the beautiful weather helped to snap me back to reality. This even led to one of my better workouts in the last few months. This revelation got me thinking about one of my favorite quotes:
“Show up. Do Something.” – Dan John
Below I have taken an excerpt from one of his many fantastic books to share with you today:
I’ve joked many times that I’ve been the national champion in a lot of different sports because when they said, “Be there at nine o’clock on June 26th in Spokane,” I was there. There was always someone else who was far better than me, but they didn’t show up. Every good coach I’ve ever had has explained academics to their athletes this way: Go to class, never miss class, and show up. You want to be a good father? Show up and be around. No, don’t try to be a great dad once or twice, but be an OK dad 365 days a year. Your kids will turn out OK.
Woody Allen once said, “80 percent of success is showing up.” To that I’d add, “and to keep going.” People don’t like to do a program for 40 days. They usually do it for two days and then stop. Any idiot can start something. It’s a little different to stick it out and hang in there. I once had someone tell me they read my book Mass Made Simple, but got hung up on workout eight. I asked them, “Did you do workout seven yet?” They replied, “No, but I read it and I didn’t like it.” They didn’t actually do the program at all, so they didn’t know that the eighth workout was easy so they wouldn’t feel like crying after how hard workout seven was. It’s a lost art: Actually doing things. Anyone who reads my newsletter will have heard this 100 times, but I have a three-part formula: Show up, don’t quit, ask questions. Most of life’s successes probably come from this.
–Attempts by Dan John
I will leave you with one last piece of wisdom from Olympic athlete Alexi Pappas. Alexi abided by the rule of thirds: You’re supposed to feel good a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and crappy or not great a third of the time, and if you feel roughly in those ratios, it means you are in fact chasing a goal. If you feel too good all the time, you’re not pushing yourself enough, and if you feel too fatigued, you might be burning out or having a challenge and need to reevaluate. This rule can be applied to all facets of life, not just our fitness goals. Sometimes we just have to suck it up, show up, get something done, and we will feel a hell of a lot better afterward.
Yours in strength,
Nick
