Don’t rest on your laurels
The image above is of the coveted Green Beret, which is issued upon completion of the final test at the end of a 9 month selection period during Royal Marines Commando training. The cap badge of the Royal Marines has a globe encircled in laurels and a royal crown on top. The laurels were awarded for a battle honour in the 1700’s.
Finishing the gruelling 9 month training is really just the beginning of your career as a commando. When we are awarded our beret, we are constantly reminded not to rest on the laurels of what previous commandos had done before us. The corps is so decorated that the globe was awarded because there had been battle honours all over the world and it was hard to pick which ones to showcase.
I was a Royal Marines Commando, but all I had really done was pass some tests, hard tests, but still just tests. I have since kept the mindset to not rest on my laurels.
For me that means I’m constantly testing myself physically and mentally. Just because I’ve done something before, I know it doesn’t count for anything today.
As Josh Bridges would say (former Navy Seal), rent is due everyday and you must ‘Pay The Man’
In my industry I hear a lot of “oh I’ve done that before” or “I used to be able to do that” – what does that really mean? Do you hear people say “oh, I used to have X amount of money but I blew it” – probably not often!
Because technically if you used to be able to do something fitness wise, and you can’t anymore, then you actually blew it. You’ve lost that ability because you didn’t pay the man. It can be a source of pride to talk about something you once did, but in reality it’s confirmation that you let it go!
We only rent our fitness. We cannot keep it forever. I’ll add that we only rent our mental toughness too. We have to keep paying our dues (putting in the work) in order to keep both our fitness and our mental ability to push through and deal with tough situations.
A month of 2025 has already gone by. Some of you reading this likely had some resolutions for this year and some of you may have failed at them already. Well it’s time to get serious – there are no second chances. It’s time to stop resting on your laurels.
Whatever level of fitness you’ve been at in the past, it’s time to get back there or as close to it as possible. If you were a high level athlete at some point in your life, then some things will be out of reach but you can get close. And my bet is that you can get better at some things that you didn’t need for that particular sport.
If you did something last year that was really hard or you made huge progress in your fitness – you’re not off the hook. It’s time to go again, rent is due and nobody cares!
The ones who are very successful at this game of health and fitness are the ones who play the long game. They are always looking for little improvements, little ways to test themselves and don’t let themselves off the hook.
Don’t rest on your laurels – pay the man!
