Success is a funny thing. It seems that there are so many definitions out there as to what it is to succeed in life. There are the definitions artfully created by expert marketers. They tell us stories on commercials, billboards, and our social media feed. You might not even know that they are doing it (they are that good).
Then there are the ones given to you by your school or job. You are a success if you get a certain grade, or hit a sales target or bill a certain number of hours, etc. We can’t forget the societal definitions of success to be a parent, kid or just any sort of human. It can be overwhelming with so many conflicting messages and we can feel immense pressure to achieve all of these outcomes.
Today, I am going to simplify it all (you are welcome😉) – Success is showing up. It is showing up for yourself to do the things that YOU need to do to be the best that YOU can be. The outcomes, they will be what they will and honestly, it is probably the thing you have the least control over.
I mean, the Open is a great example of that. You can train super hard and when you do the WOD, you feel like you pushed as hard as you possibly could. I mean, could someone actually do it faster? I seriously doubt it. It feels like that was Mach speed. But then, the leaderboard comes up. You watch scores come in and it turns out, there are thousands of people that did it faster, lifted more and performed more reps. I know, mind blowing…I mean, did you see how fast I went?!
Does that mean you weren’t successful in the Open? Heck no! There will always be someone smarter, fitter, stronger, or better looking than you - ALWAYS. So, if you can’t control the outcome, what can you control? The EFFORT! We all have different starting points in every aspect of our lives and again, much of that is in the hand we were dealt. But you can show up in your life everyday. You can wake up every day and do your best. Some days look better than others, but when the effort is there, you have succeeded. There is no end point – you keep showing up every day.
So, in the gym, it doesn’t matter if you are competing in the open, finish first or last, or if you are just going through the motions, because that is all you can do at the moment. Give all that you have in all that you do because, “how you do anything, is how you do everything”.