What some people can do to stay fit isn’t what you might have to do to stay fit.
Remember this when others are:
It’s easy to want to respond with resentment, envy, jealousy, even hatred.
This does nothing, however, for your fitness or mental health.
And that which doesn’t serve you, shouldn’t be served up by you.
Harder would be to respond with curiosity, strength, willpower, even love.
Love for the challenge; love for the insight; love for the connection; love for the growth.
Those who get it easy don’t get the depth that comes from overcoming the hard.
The white statue is what the sculpture will look like when it’s done.
The mountain in the distance is the progress that has been made so far.
…Over the course of 73 years.
The original sculptor has passed.
But so has his dream of carving Crazy Horse into the side of this mountain.
Many are still working to finish this colossal, unfinished sculpture. And there is no estimated completion time.
But, the idea of working towards the completion of something bigger than yourself, that quite possibly won’t be done in your lifetime, that will dwarf all other sculptures in the world…
Is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Don’t be stubborn with your dreams.
Cultivate a vision that captures the imaginations of many. That way, even if you fall short or your time expires before you’re done, your dream can carry on.
The best teacher in life is experience.
…Wrong.
The best teacher in life is, and can only ever be, you.
Experience is merely newly presented knowledge. Just like a simple Google search.
And having knowledge in front of you (or at your finger tips) has no impact on the mind.
Knowledge ungrasped is the same as knowledge unknown.
The best teacher is the curious mind—the undeniable force that actively grasps the surrounding knowledge and infuses it with the mind.
Without that force, the talents of the teacher are irrelevant; experiences are irrelevant; access to the internet is irrelevant.
Because having access to knowledge was never the issue in the connection age.
It’s the lack of curiosity that only ever holds us back.
The real source of your problems doesn’t come from your circumstances.
The real source of your problems comes from the person looking back at you when you look in the mirror.
See that person?
Sure, they haven’t been given the best start in life. But, neither has countless others. It can’t be changed so might as well focus on what’s important: what you’re going to do about it.
See, here’s the thing: that person in the mirror didn’t choose their starting line, but here’s what they have chosen:
People who blame their circumstances don’t get ahead, not because they started behind, but because they stay behind while they continue to blame, yell, and shout at their starting line.
The people who get ahead are the ones who: rather than source problems to circumstances, focus energy on solutions; rather than blame what’s out of their control, change what’s within it; rather than compare where they started, just get started!
The reason people fail to discipline themselves is because their “why” isn’t strong enough.
Many people’s “whys” are actually quite superficial. They’re focused on weight, waist size, number of abs showing, number of “0s” in the account, brand names, follower count, verified badges, etc.
The solution is to go deeper. And motivation will increase in proportion to the depth of the “why.”
For example, is the goal: weight, waist size, number of abs showing or is it really self-confidence?
If the goal is self-confidence and it’s being measured with a superficial marker like a scale—of course motivation will be lost when the scale yo-yos or doesn’t change.
If you’re going to stay consistent through the yo-yos and plateaus, you need to go deeper.
And if you don’t feel confident in yourself now, you need to figure out why.
Are you comparing yourself to who you were yesterday or other people? Do you hate the way being overweight feels? Does being overweight conflict with your identity?
Dig deeper into the real reason why you want to lose weight, reduce your waist size, and increase your ab count (or whatever) and align your actions with that reason instead—not number games.
E.g. I’m working out because I hate the way being overweight feels and I know that the temporary pain of exercise is worth more than the lasting pain of being uncomfortable in my own skin—versus—I’m working out to lose weight.
Remember: when you align your tasks with a strong enough “why,” you’ll be able to bear almost any “how.”