Straining toward achievement

This morning I was at the gym—sweating, hurting, thinking I was an idiot, and wondering what in the world I was doing. I’ve got a goal to bench-press 400 lbs, which is about 25 lbs over my prior max. Now I know 25 lbs doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’ve already reached your limit, no matter what it is, expanding that limit even by as little as 5% (as in this case) is extraordinarily difficult.

As I was sitting there reflecting on the ridiculous amount of pain, effort, and perseverance you have to endure to increase by such a meager margin (only 5%), I realized that this is a nearly universal principle.

Any time you want to push yourself well beyond what you have done before (particularly when you were pushing yourself then), the amount of effort required will be dramatically disproportionate to the increments by which you increase.

I learned a couple of things as I pondered this principle while pounding out as many reps as my tired muscles could bear.

Character development

First, what matters most is not the end result from pushing yourself so far. At least in this case, the ends do not justify the means. Such proportionately unimpressive increases do not justify the disproportionately gargantuan effort they require. But what does matter is the character development inherent in the process of pushing yourself further and harder than before. It’s about the value of setting goals, the ethic of hard work, the principle of perseverance, and the inner strength you get by simply sticking to it.

In my limited observation, those individuals that are the strongest and achieve the most are those who have learned to push themselves, have learned to be passionate, and do not quit when everyone else does.

The cost/value principle

Second, those things in life that are of the greatest value are not free. Usually the level of value associated with the achievement is directly proportional to the amount of work required to achieve it.

Dealing with failure

Third and finally, to be good at something, really good, you’re going to have to get used to failure. The better you want to be at something, the more failure you’ll have to endure to get there.

A good sales person, for instance, will be rejected 9 times out of 10 (or more). In baseball, a batting average (your ratio of “hits” to “at bats”) is considered excellent if it’s higher than a .300, and .400 is nearly impossible. A .300 batting average means that you’re going to miss seven out of ten times at bat. The last time I ran a marathon, I had to run about 325 miles over the three months prior just so that I could run 26.2 miles the day of the race.

In short, failure needs to become a part of your life. You need to be able to look at failure for what it is: the temporary inability to achieve what you meant to, and a guide on what to change so that in the end, you succeed.

If you’re not currently pushing yourself at something and feeling the pain that happens when you do, then I’d encourage you to find a part of your life in which you’d like to improve, make sure it’s of value, and work to achieve it.

If you ARE feeling pushed and pulled, if you are struggling towards some worthy goal and are feeling the whole-bodied drain that it is having on you, I encourage you to persevere, keep it up, and make it happen. You’ll be happy that you did.

-Rusty

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Center for Individual Excellence

International Speech Competition: I’m hungry for bugs

The funny, but insightful story about how we tend to destroy what is most precious to us. A video from an international speech competition.

Rusty Lindquist April 11, 2014 No Comments

Center for Individual Excellence

What you probably didn’t know about doing little things

Little things can give us a sense of accomplishment, which can be good in building momentum; but they can also help us justify putting off the big things that really move the needle.

Rusty Lindquist April 26, 2011 4 Comments

Business and Employment

Inputs: The real key to changing your life

For our change initiatives to be successful, we have to get down the the core, what really drives change, this is what really matters.

Rusty Lindquist December 14, 2010 No Comments

Center for Individual Excellence

Guiding Principles: a moral compass makes life easier

Misery in life is the result of living without direction. For a life of happiness, fulfillment, purpose, and meaning, you need a strong moral compass.

Rusty Lindquist September 24, 2010 No Comments

Blog

You remember the Mayflower, but what about Speedwell?

You remember the Mayflower, but what about Speedwell? On August 5th, 1620, the Pilgrims set out for America on two ships, the Speedwell and the

Rusty Lindquist June 2, 2010 11 Comments

Blog

Service Ride Control

Service Ride Control The dashboard on my Yukon Denali XL (XL stands for extra long—to fit my six kids) has been displaying the message “Service

Rusty Lindquist May 28, 2010 No Comments

Life Engineering

The Engagement Experts

Life Engineering is dedicated to helping individuals, leaders, and organizations achieve excellence. Through science-backed methodology, we provide the A.I. Driven Ecosystem and training to move beyond where you’ve been, to go farther than you thought you could, and to achieve excellence in Life.

© Copyright – Life Engineering (2021)