Hard Work: There is No Subsitute

Hard work. A topic that has been at the forefront of my mind this week, as I have been finding some things to be, well, hard!! I hear people say all the time "My life is so busy!" or "I have a life outside of the gym *followed by sarcastic chuckles*" I have personally struggled lately with the fact that I have tried to think of my life outside of the gym. It seems at times non-existent; as I am working hard to acheive lofty goals I have set out for myself, and sacrifice to make those goals a reality. So I stop the pity party, and share with you that this feeling is okay because That's what HARD WORK is about. It's not meant to be easy. It is HARD and it has an investment return. HARD WORK pays off.

On a personal level, my passion is for helping people grow, obtain knowledge and change their lives through health and fitness. It seems at times that is all that I do. So...what's wrong with that? Nothing! You see, the problem isn't that we do what we love too often, the problem is often that we do what we love MORE often for others than we do for ourselves.

Some of you may re-read that last paragraph. That's okay. Let's face it. How many times have you put loved one's ahead of yourself? That's not a bad thing. It just is. In fact, it's a good thing; as long as you also address your own needs. This is where sacrifice comes into play.

Sacrifice is about giving something up either partially, temporarily or permanently that you know you cannot have too much of while trying to acheive a goal. Many people give up alcohol for their families. Some give up time with loved ones in order to work more and save money or provide. Others give up time with loved ones for the goal of saving money (not going out to eat or events), or even to spend more time studying or in the gym. Every sacrifice has pros and cons. That's why it's sacrificial. You give something up short-term in order to gain in the long-term.

The truth is, that without HARD WORK and SACRIFICE combined, neither of them mean much. Hard work comes in many forms. Different things are hard for different people. It's important for us to grasp this in order to help and inspire others. There will be days that are hard. There will also be days that are good. Sometimes sacrifice will be small, and sometimes sacrifice will feel magnified as we progress forward, or even if we regress.

All of has have progressions and regressions, but the goal is to continue an upward trend. A beautiful person recently put it to me like this:

It's like a statistical graph for any major company with large trends. Some days the graph will represent an increase, while other days the line on the graph may drop. The drop could last for a day, days, weeks or even months, but eventually will rise again. The important thing is that the overall trend of the graph is upward. This is also what's important in our lives.

MY CHALLENGE TO YOU: Think about your overall graph of your life. This year. Right now. Appreciate where you are at today, and recognize that whether up or down you will be in a different place tomorrow. Are you trending up?