Motivation; “One Inch at a Time.”

"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."

Benjamin Franklin once said this and to me it seems extremely appropriate doesn’t it? What are we really as human beings if we continue to make excuses for the things we do, or better yet, don’t do? Essentially to me the only person we are fooling and disappointing with excuses is ourselves. We have to do things for ourselves not for others. Although others might be in our mind when we are reaching our goals, we still need to do things for ourselves to be successful.

"Is that All You’ve Got?" I can not count how many times I have asked myself this very question as a reoccurring chant when I need to dig deep for training or in a race itself. Motivation to do anything has to come from within. Setting up goals is the first step in motivating ones self. The key is to ensure that they are obtainable goals b/c unrealistic goals will almost always lead to failure. Set a major goal ‘A’, and along the path to get to ‘A’ you set obtainable goals. Once each individual ‘mini’ goal is met the bar must be set a little higher toward the next mini goal until A is accomplished.

For example; with physical fire exams coming up I have been concentrating a great deal on crossfit to combine cardio, strength, and power while staying lean. Fire exams consist of many complex movements in a series of timed events; stair climb to hose drag, to equipment carry (farmers walk) to forcible entry (swinging a sledge over head to move a metal block) and so on. With crossfit you pull together the highest intensity to form "the quintessential athlete," through "equal parts gymnast, Olympic weightlifter and sprinter." - Jill Barker, Montreal Gazette.

Although I had an athletic base coming back into this form of training it wasn’t easy by any part, and it shouldn’t be. Every time I get comfortable or beat a time that I had set before, then the next time it better be harder or longer or I will simply not reach that next mini goal thus limiting myself to reach that final goal.

Excuses stunt our growth by allowing us to avoid or push goals back day by day until we are so delusional that we actually believe those phrases of "I will start tomorrow." Today is the start time. I look for motivation many times from those who have accomplished great things through adversity and challenges. In anything we take on it is always 90% mental 10% physical.

Recently one place that I have found some inspirational words is from a very unlikely source for me; a movie, I know it sounds cheesy. Not sure who wrote the ‘Inch by Inch’ speech from Any Given Sunday, but regardless, it is one of the best speeches I have ever heard. Main reason why; it is as close to the truth and bare basics as you can get. It reminds us that there are no quick answers, no magic pills, no room for excuses in life and no machines that will do it for us. It simply outlines that to truly live we need to fight for what we want and fight to keep it.

For me when I think of this speech in relation to a fire exam those inches do add up. If I am to slow to get up those stairs with the extra weight on my back or not strong enough to get that hose across the line or too weak to swing the sledge then it is all over and I fail.

"I'll tell you this in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch. And I know if I am going to have any life anymore it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch because that is what LIVING is. The six inches in front of your face."

We have no do-overs in this life and we only regret the things we did not do. Don’t make excuses for what can be done today because if it was meant to be simple then what is the point?

WOD
DB Press work and incline BB.

Thanks to Katie and CFOT -I believe- I gave this a go and enjoyed it.
5 rounds for time

21 KB swings

15 DB Thrusters

9 Push-ups

Time 6:53