“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” – Peter Drucker

In business, this is ever important for leaders to fully understand. That the culture of a team is everything. Over any marketing plans, product launches… anything.

The same mindset is true for us as athletes.

We’ve all heard the line, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog”. And we believe it to be true. The picture perfect strategy, executed half-heartedly, will always be beaten by the less-than-ideal strategy, but executed with full heart.

Our character is our back bone. During round 4 of “Kelly”, or the final minutes of an Open AMRAP, it will not be our “workout strategy” that we fall back to. It’s something deeper. Cultivate that, and everything else falls into place.

“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.” – Bill Watterson

“Satisfied” feels like a dangerous word.

As competitors, we’re always striving for betterment. Through an everlasting hunger to improve, we wake each day looking to press forward. Although a phenomenal quality, this can be a double-edged sword.

We can fall into the trap of telling ourselves, “I’ll be happy when”. I’ll be happy when I make this PR, get that job, or buy that home. Yet, the finish line always moves. As soon as we do reach that PR, we’re immediately turning to thinking about the next.

The call to action is to appreciate where we are today. To reflect not just on the “to improves”, but to reflect on the positives. The accomplishments. To be proud of where we’ve come from, and where we’re about to go.

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Fate puts opportunity in front of us.
Destiny is the result of what we choose to do with it.

In turn, destiny is a choice. Not some predetermined thing of fairy tales and lore. We can sit and allow destiny to happen to us, or we can choose to have destiny happen for us.

Don’t wait to be chosen… instead choose.
Decisions = Destiny.

“Discipline is choosing between what you want now, and what you want most.” — Abraham Lincoln

The desire to seek immediate gratification can be our mortal enemy. It drives us towards the comfortable choice. The safer option, or the compromise.

What we lack in those weak moments is discipline. Discipline is the willingness to stick to goals we set out to do. Emotions and conditions can tempt to sway us, where our discipline can see the temptations for what they are, and make the right decision.

This skill, as it truly is one that we can practice, has been linked many times over to being a critical component of success.

What our emotions drive us towards today, may very well be directly against what we want in the long run. So we must question them. Stacked side by side, here we need to choose. Which one do we want more? There can only be one.

“Seek not good from without; seek it within yourselves, or you will never find it.” – Epictetus

When something goes right, we’re relatively quick to point to actions we took to get there. But when something goes wrong, it’s all too easy for us to do the opposite. To play the “blame game”, where we’re using external events as excuses.

A core tenant of Mental Toughness is responsibility. To accept that we played a role. But the purpose is not to blame ourselves or throw a pity party. The purpose is that it gives us *options*.

When we take responsibility and look within, we now are in control. We can now focus on the moves to make to put ourselves into better position. It opens our eyes to the path forward. If we do the opposite however, and blame the externals, we have surrendered control. We won’t have any control, as the story we’re telling ourselves is that outside events determine my path.

Responsibility is a weapon. And it only comes from within.

“Champions don’t blame the tools they’ve been given. Champions sharpen them.”

Abraham Lincoln once wrote that if he had six hours to cut down a tree, he would spend the first four sharpening the axe.

It doesn’t matter where you started, or even where you’ve been. All that matters is two questions. Where do you want to go, and how hard are you willing to work to get there. We have what we need. Everyone does. The separation comes down to who is willing to do the work.

Never whine.
Never complain.
Never make excuses.

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” – Scott Adams

How does an echo start?

With a tiny sound. One that in and of itself, might not even be noticeable. But shortly thereafter that soft sound, comes it’s echo. Still maybe nothing to turn heads. Yet, this echo builds upon its previous. And again. And then again. Before we know it, it’s impossible to ignore.

It’s called the “changing of the echos”, and it starts with a single tiny noise. Will we start one today?

“I don’t like that man. I should get to know him better.” – Abraham Lincoln
Perspective is everything.
In the abundance mindset, there is the belief all human beings are good. No one is born evil.

A situation we can all relate to from some point in our lives is a poor first impression. We meet someone we really do not want to spend another second around. Yet, life puts us right back next to them. Definitely not by choice, but by chance.

And we talk.
And we strike some common ground.
And we understand them a bit more.
And things… change. We may not be close friends, but, that animosity we initially felt is no longer there. The brief amount of time we spent talking with them afforded us the chance to better grasp their perspective. And potentially even the reason why we felt the way we did.

Next time we find ourselves feeling that wave of emotion towards someone, remind ourselves… maybe we just need to get to know them a little bit better.

“Patience is not the virtue. Discipline is.”

Discipline is not a term reserved for the military or martial arts. Where patience is our anchor in the storm, it is our discipline that pushes us forward.
Discipline to our commitments, regardless of how large or seemingly small.
Discipline to our values, staying true to ourselves in both our best and worst moments.
Discipline to the details, when there’s every reason to “let this one slide”.

Patience is a subset of a deeper practice.
That of discipline.

“If you put limits on everything you do – physical or anything else – it will spread into your work and your life. There are no limits, only plateaus, and we must go beyond them.” – Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was involved in a horrific motorcycle accident when he was younger. He was told he would never be able to walk again.

So he was left to make a choice. To believe that his life was limited, where the self-fulfilling prophecy would follow. Or, to choose to believe that there truly are no limits. That there are only the ones we impose on ourselves.

Bruce made his choice. He chose to believe in cause and effect, and he put in the work. When times got hard, he got harder. When he reached a plateau, he recognized it for what it was. Not a limit, but the next challenge. And he found a way to overcome it.

Bruce made his choice.
When we reach our next challenge, what will be ours?
Will we see it as our limit, or the next plateau to go beyond?