How bad do you want it?

 

"If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse!"

I could probably list a few dozen lessons my step-dad has taught me over the past 30 years but one CONSTANT message that always flips into my mind is...NOTHING OUTWEIGHS HARD WORK! 

As a kid I can remember night after night watching him work at our kitchen table on law case after law case and the one thing I never remember hearing is...COMPLAINING! 

I never heard...

This is too hard! This doesn't matter! There is no point! No one cares! I should just quit! I am not good enough!

Not one time ever did I hear...any complaints, any negativity, any objections (ha ha...like that little lawyer jargon thrown in), any hints of frustration or any desire to throw in the towel! 

He just kept showing up...doing the work needed...to be as successful as all of it was important to him in order to live the life he desired and to help raise the family that meant everything to him and that wanting in bad enough still first him up NOW.

In my life I have always noticed a trend...I am 100% involved in EVERYTHING I do...UNTIL I lose that importance factor. 

I have humbly accomplished a lot in my life that I am extremely proud of and I have also let a lot of cool things slip out of my grasp mainly because I lost love for the endeavor. 

I am not proud of some of the things I have let slip in my life but that is life for me and everyone. 

What we want bad enough...we fight for and go all in towards accomplishing that GOAL. 

This week I hit a pinnacle of ultra swimming that I have had on my bucket list for many, many years!

Hitting the magical number of 10,000 in the pool was everything I thought it would be and more. 

I was hoping that my body would hold up strong and it did as I held the same pace for three hours straight. 

I was also hoping my mind would completely give out on me at some point and I would have to choose how bad I WANTED IT and...well...that moment came and went multiple times during the swim. 

You are probably confused seeing that I wanted my mind to fail...WHAT? To me when we hit that point...THAT...is the exact moment we start to grow!

Endurance sports truly is a 20% physical and 80% mental game! We train so hard to get our bodies ready for battle yet rarely train our minds for the tactical game that lies ahead of us. 

Isn't life the same way? Physically we are mostly in tune to what is needed to get through our days yet mentally we throw in the towel when someone cuts us off in traffic, we burn the mac and cheese, we hit the snooze button a half dozen times, someone critics us, someone doesn't agree with our views and when the weight on the scale is not coming off as fast as we want! 

We come up with a million different excuses as to why something is just not for US! 

Those excuses are just your bullshit reasons and I challenge you to hold off from throwing the towel in and just try one more time! 

Trust me...there are two things that will be worth it...

1.) Accomplishing a major hurdle, obstacle or goal is worth its weight in gold...I would rather struggle through a three hour swim and come out the other side a better man, dad and human than I would like to win a million dollars or have some fancy car that means NOTHING.  

2. ) Regret is a terrible disease and while you might not regret something now at 40 years old...I guarantee that if you don't go all in on accomplishing everything you desire then one day you will be on your death bed wishing you wouldn't have given in to that excuse! 

So all I have to say is...

HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

GO GET IT! 

Make It Count!