Fighting your Biggest Opponent

No, this article is not really about mixed martial arts, boxing or fighting with another person, rather it's about fighting your own feelings.  If you're trying to take things to the next level of performance regardless if it's your career, your education or personal health and fitness there will be a time when you find yourself fighting against your toughest opponent; yourself.

The simple reason most people don't reach there goals is because they give in to their feelings and quit before they succeed, not because they aren't capable.  The best advice I can give you is to fight through your feelings.  If you want to lose weight, you have to fight through those uncomfortable moments of hunger.  If you want to excel with your school work this semester, you have to fight through those moments of psychological fatigue.  If you want to be a world-class athlete, you have to fight through those moments of physical fatigue.  If you want to be a superstar salesperson, you have to fight through those moments of rejection and dejection.  What's the best way to go about this?  Here's a wonderful piece of advice from a world-class boxing trainer named Teddy Atlas (Atlas, T., 2006.  Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man). 

"At a certain point, if he’s going to get to the top of the boxing profession, a fighter has to learn the difference between the truth and a lie.  The lie is thinking that submission is an acceptable option.  The truth is that if you give up, afterward you'll realize any of those punches that you thought you couldn't deal with, or those rough moments you didn't think you could make it through, were just moments.  Enduring them is not nearly as tough as having to deal with the next day and the next month and the next year, knowing that you quit, that you failed, that you submitted.  It’s a trainer’s job to make a fighter understand that difference, that the parts of a fight that are urgent last only seconds; seconds during which you have to stave off the convenient excuse — “I’m too tired” or “I hurt too much” or “I can’t do this” or even simply “I’m not going to deal with this.” Sometimes it just comes down to not floating — just being there and understanding that if you give in, you’ll hurt more tomorrow. Maybe there is no more important lesson to learn from a boxer than that."

And there you have it.  The difficult times we encounter may slow us down, sting, bruise or even downright hurt but remember, they are just moments.  The unfortunate reality is that the biggest pain comes when we realize that we could have pushed through and succeeded if only we would have persevered for a few moments longer.  So the next time you find yourself in a battle of will remember two things; the opponent is most likely your own head and the ultimately you'll win the fight if you just hold.  If you don't, you may find yourself hurting more tomorrow. 

The Last Motivational Health Article You May Ever Read

Every so often I’ll receive an email or run into someone who has read one of my columns.  Most recently a woman told me, “you know, I really enjoyed that last article you wrote; I felt so motivated afterwards.”  Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever motivated anyone because I think that the only person who can motivate you is you.  If however this article does happen to motivate you, it may just be the last article you ever read if you put these tools to use. 

Here are a few questions for you.  Is motivation a feeling or an action?  How can you tell when someone is motivated?  Can you tell if a person is motivated by how they feel or can you tell by how the act?  Well I don’t know about you but I haven’t figured out a way to read minds or pinpoint feelings at specific times so I will argue that you can generally tell how motivated someone is by how they act. 

I once wrote a short piece on how to get out of bed in the morning; definitely one of the hardest things for me to do.  The question I posed was, when you woke up this morning  did you wait till you felt like it to get out of bed or did you get out of bed anyways and then you felt like it?  In other words most of us never feel like getting out of bed in the morning but we do it anyways simply because we have things to do.  Only after we get out of bed do we start to feel energized. 

Some time ago I listened to an ultra marathon runner present to a group of students.  During his presentation he shared that he normally ran 135 to 150 miles per week (I don’t think I can even drive that much per week).  During the question and answer period of the presentation one student asked; when do you feel like running?  He replied with, “I never feel like running until after I start! 

One of my favorite acronyms is ACE, Action Creates Energy.  Action also creates excitement which is an emotion.  So another way of looking at motivation is to understand that action creates energy, excitement and positive emotions which in turn creates the feeling of motivation. 

So tomorrow when you wake up and have to do something you don’t feel like doing, just start doing it for fifteen minutes.  After fifteen minutes you can decide if you want to keep going but my instinct is that you will have already created enough momentum to continue until you finish whatever it is you need to do because you won’t wait until you feel motivated; you will have just done it regardless…and that’s motivation.