WHAT IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW ANY BETTER?
Happy Wednesday, Competitor! Back in November, I headed off to Fort Worth to see my TCU Horned Frogs tackle my parents' Texas Tech Red Raiders. Reply back and let me know what's on your weekend agenda!
Today's Weekends Separate Winners message is focused around the concept of self-limiting beliefs. I'm testing a new format (and email server) so let me know what you think. Below you'll find:
- A Quick Story
- How to Take Action
- Something That Inspired Me This Week
- Things I'm Consuming
No matter how old I get, I'll always associated Texas Tech with former head coach Mike Leach, who I was a huge fan of growing up. Leach was a protege of legendary coach, Hal Mumme the architect of college football's "Air Raid" offense.
Mumme lived by one main philosophy: "success requires that you have a great capacity for boredom."
In other words, you must be willing to come in every single day and work on the simple, boring things that most overlook.
Simple things like...
- Eating broccoli & chicken over pizza
- Working your barbell lifting technique with a PVC pipe or empty barbell every single day during warmups
- Writing a handwritten thank you card to someone in your network
These aren't the BIG FLASHY actions that get our heart racing and blood rushing.
Our adrenaline isn't going to spike when we practice our keynote presentation over and over and over again alone in our office.
Our excitement level isn't going through the roof by showing up to the gym and doing the same warmup and barbell repetition that we've done the last 30 days in a row.
It's not "fun" to do the boring, simple steps every day. It's fun to do new and exciting things.
However, as Mumme believed - and so do I - that our ability to embrace the boredom of the grind determines how great our opportunity to seize the glory.
Success is always sexy - but the road to reaching it is anything but. It's boring and no one tells you how long you have to walk it until you reach your goal.
But if you want to win?
You learn to love making that walk. Competitors aren't chasing the adrenaline rush of new when they know they need to keep working the mundane to win.
If you want the excitement and rush of victory, you must be willing to build in the boredom.
I'm cheering for you this coming weekend!
Taking Action
Embracing boredom isn't the most exciting call-to-action - yet there are ways to make it enjoyable.
1. Be where your feet are.
Meditate. Journal. Control your breathing. The most important thing you can do is be in the now.
We lose our motivation when we stare at the gap between where we are now and where we're trying to go. We get overwhelmed by the amount of work doing the same thing ahead of us that we start to look for exciting other opportunities - which only delay or derail our chances of reaching our desired destination.
The more you can stay in today, the less you're consumed with "all of the boring" work and instead focused on what one action step you're about to take.
2. Write down your daily progress.
What we don't write down, we discount.
It's easier to following a 10-12 week training plan when you're tracking the growth you've made in the gym. Each additional rep or pound added to the bar builds our confidence and helps keep us focused on continuing to do the same work.
When we stop tracking progress, it's easy to think we haven't made any - and then we start looking for more exciting activities that aren't as helpful as continuing to work the boring process. (Think diet pills vs. eating chicken & broccoli.)
Embrace your calendar and putting a big red X in the date when you've completed the task so you can visibly see your progress - and be an accountability reminder to get back on track when you miss a day.
3. Shift your self-talk.
Maximize the power of "yet."
You may not be where you want to, but as long as you take care of the work today, you're one step closer. "Yet" reminds us that we're on our way if we keep doing the work.
It's not a "you're not there."
It's an encouragement, "You're not there yet, but you're on the way."
“The easy path today makes a hard path tomorrow. The hard path today makes an easier path tomorrow.
The choice is yours, but the mountain isn't going away. The longer you put off the hard thing you know you need to do, the harder it becomes to get started.
"The climb is the fun part.” - Shane Farnam
Recommended
Read: The 6 Types of Working Genius (Patrick Lencioni)
Listen: Dare to Lead: Brene Brown with Adam Grant & Simon Sinek
Watch: It's Normal to Feel the Struggle
If your company/association has an upcoming event, I'd love to talk about how we can empower your audience with tools to compete every day. Just reply back to get started!