Every day we face a battle, the hardest battle we ever have to face, and it’s a battle worth winning!
I’m talking about the one that exists in between your ears. Against that voice that tries to take you down the wrong path; the one that makes you pick your phone up to death scroll, the one gets you to order the brownie with coffee, the one that tells you to cancel your gym resrvation in the middle of the night and turn your alarm off, and the one that makes you cheat yourself mid-workout.
Make no mistake about it, we are all at WAR with this voice. This part of us, that is always seeking comfort and pleasure is not good for us. Short term it makes us feel good, long term we are lost and miserable if we follow it’s guidance.
Conquering this part of us is what I believe is the start of becoming mentally tough. It doesn’t matter how tough you think you are, the voice will always be there – and it will give you better excuses…
“Oh, it’s just one missed workout you’ll be fine”
“You know you can do this, you’ve nothing to prove”
“have the cake, you earned it”
All justifiable, all arguable, all will lead you down the path you’re true self doesn’t want to go down.
I consider myself to be pretty mentally tough. I’ve put myself in many situations to test myself and improve my mental toughness, but I am not immune. Every day I deal with the voice trying to make me sleep in longer – even though my real self loves to get up early and get ahead of the day. During tough workouts, the voice tries to get me to “unintentionally, deliberately” miss count a few reps – even though my real self wants the full benefit of that workout by doing the whole damn thing. You CANNOT let it win!
It’s their for self preservation. Many thousands of years ago, this voice kept us alive – now it keeps us comfortable and there’s no chance of growing or progressing if you’re comfortable.
I came across an interview with marathon Eluid Kipchoge a few weeks ago and he said something that has been playing in my head for many weeks:
“Only the disciplined ones in life are free. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods and your passions.”
Your moods and passions are what that voice is trying to tell you to follow. This has quickly become one of my favourite quotes. Discipline is your weapon to win this battle. Motivation may get your foot in the door but discipline will win the battle long term.
I wish I could give you the easy answer but I can’t. The simple answer is to the do opposite of what you’d like to do to stay comfortable. Do the things that your real self has set out to accomplish; your goals, your dreams, your ideals.
The fact is, that when you give in to the temptations once, they get stronger. If you cheat yourself through a workout once, it’s easier to do it next time. Having the extra cookie becomes normal and before long you’re miserable with what you’ve become.
The war is never over unfortunately – but every won battle = freedom
