Do you have what it takes?

Posted on 16. Nov, 2009 by Keith Scott in Uncategorized

I still can recall sitting in that hot, muggy, many times, oppressive wrestling room, listening to my coach, a man who was never short with words of wisdom, give one of his “famous” middle-of-practice speeches. He would do that once a week, when he saw his wrestlers starting to slack off a little. Practice would stop, the coach called us into the center of the mat and then he would proceed in giving us his best pep talk for the day.

I remember him telling us all that very few people were doing what we did each day. Not too many people were waking up at 4:30 AM, to go out, run to school, in the cold and the snow…, and once we were there, continue to train for another hour, until it was time to shower and then go to school. Not too many people would ensure a three hour practice on the same day and then go home, eat a small dinner and afterward go out and put in another 3 miles on the cold, snowy roads.

He told us that there were two kinds of people in this world: “People who did and people who didn’t do.” He always asked us which one we were going to be…not only now, at this moment, but throughout our lives. “Doers, you see make things happen, set goals, and do anything it takes to get where they want to be. Even when they don’t feel well, are not motivated and would rather be doing something else”, he would say. “People, who don’t do, find excuses, don’t set goals and always find something better to do…and these people never get very far in life,” he continued.

I reflect on those speeches a lot now when I am faced with challenges, or when I just don’t feel like doing what I know I need to do. Whether it is going to the gym when I didn’t sleep very much the night before, or when I have a load of work to do and I just would rather be doing something else. “Am I a doer or someone who doesn’t do?” I ask myself. “Am I a winner or a loser?”

I think about this a lot when I work with people in the gym too. So many people want to do things, and want to look a certain way, but never do what it takes to get there. They just don’t do enough to reach their goals. When things get tough, many go and do something else, instead of what they really need to do. Many of these people have great intensions, but when things in life get hard, that is when you stop seeing them in the gym. Usually, the come back a few weeks later, full of excuses and plenty of remorse. It can be an endless cycle. I have said this before, and I will say it again; “If it is really important to you, you will find a way to do it!”

For some people, it takes a while to find that motivation, or that importance to always do what it takes, and for others it might not ever happen. The good news is, everyone can find the importance and the motivation…it just takes a lot of practice, and determination.

Whether the goal is to drop 10 pounds, build an armor of muscle, lift 400 pounds off the floor, or just look better than you did last year, find the importance and become a doer, and never be that person that doesn’t do!

The hardest time to be a doer is when you are tired, hurting, not feeling great or just down…for whatever reason(s)…but those are the times when it is most important to keep doing! Those are the times when you will get the biggest reward. You see, if you can do at those tough times in life, you will grow, become tougher and be able to do just about anything else.

I read an article the other day and pulled a quote from it that I want to share. It has fast become one of my favorite quotes and sums up a lot of what I am talking about in this post. I had to ‘clean’ up some of the language for this blog, but you will still get the point.

“At certain times of your life, you’ve got to quit being such a slave to your *pansy-ness* and step up and see how well you can do under sh*tty conditions!”