The key to success is in your ability to overcome the inevitable struggle.
Attaining true success is extremely difficult. If it was easy to have a top-flight physique or become an incredible athlete everyone would have their dream body. However, this is not the case and not by a long shot. Why?
Because the road to the mountaintop is arduous. Howard Schultz was turned down over 200 times trying to secure investors for Starbucks. What if he had quit after being turned down one time like most people would have? There would be no Starbucks, and he would have given in to the rejection.
But Schultz did not quit. He had a goal and a vision, and he realized that the key success involved struggle. The same thing applies to your fitness and health journey, as there are going to be ups and downs along the way.
Pain Is The Mother Of Change
On your quest to build a stronger, leaner, and more muscular physique, you will experience pain. And much more than just the pain of a hard set of squats or deadlifts.
For example, what happens when you suffer an unexpected injury? And what happens when you are not progressing as fast as you would like too?
You have to have the endurance and the character to get through the rainy days because the payoff will be immeasurable. The key to success is in overcoming the struggles you face on your way up to the mountaintop.
Real change occurs when you hit rock bottom and being at rock bottom often involves a high degree of pain. You might go to the doctor and find out you are overweight, have high cholesterol, and diabetes. Or you might look in the mirror and see a physique that is out of shape, and you are embarrassed by how you look.
These scenarios are without a doubt painful. But without experiencing the pain of these scenarios, you would not be motivated to make the necessary changes needed to improve your situation.
Even The Greats Suffer
Michael Jordan is regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time by the majority of basketball analysts and fans (including me)! But even MJ had to struggle.
In the 1980’s, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were eliminated by the Detroit Pistons for 3 straight years in the playoffs. Jordan was becoming the individual best player on the planet, but the Pistons had a strategy to limit his game: Detroit beat him up badly and made him work extremely hard just to get a layup.
They isolated him and fouled him hard when he drove into the paint. They called this strategy the “Jordan Rules.”
At the time, Jordan did not have the belief in his teammates to help him. But trying to win by himself was resulting in devastating losses each year. After 3 years of painful losses, Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the Bulls changed their approach. Phil Jackson let Jordan know that as great as he was individually, the Bulls would need to play a more team-oriented game in order to have success and beat the Pistons.
In other words, he wanted Jordan to believe in his teammates. They used this approach, and they were able to defeat the Pistons in dominating fashion to begin their dynasty.
Conclusion
Success requires struggle, but if you stay the course, you will have your day.
I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer,
Fitman
