Let me preface this by saying, I'm not an elite athlete, I'm not an expert in any field, nor have I done anything of significance in my life. However, these are the things I've personally done, specifically over the last 5 months that have allowed me to achieve some personal goals I never thought were possible for me. I've been happier than I've ever been and I attribute a lot of that to these five things I've implemented in my life.
1. Have Fun- If what you're doing isn't fun, you'll quit almost every time. If it's something you aren't passionate about, it's never worth it. There's going to be days you'll be out on a bike in the 100 degree weather, up studying till 3 am, writing a book with no logical ideas flowing. If there's no fun or passion, it will suck a million times more on those rough days. You'll quit a million times over if you don't love it.
2. The People- Let me explain, this has been one of the biggest changes I've made and have seen incredible results. First of all, don't you dare for one second, surround yourself with people that don't believe in you. Get rid of the negativity in your life and do it now. You don't have to compete with anyone, you don't have to listen to anyone's bullshit. It's draining, it's demeaning, and it will kill your spirit. Use the unfriend, unfollow, block button or whatever you have to do and do it. You don't owe anyone an explanation if someone makes you feel like less of a person. Trust me, getting the negative energy and unkind people out of your life that have ulterior motives than being a support system for you, will be a weight off your shoulders.
Secondly surround yourself with people that are great and better than you. I've been so blessed. For real: My two babies, parents, sister, brother, brother in law, Nate, Nat, Enoch, Dan, Eric, Mark, Allison, Ashley, Ashlan, Cait, all my E3 teammates, Zoot team, people I've rolled with on the bike, hit the mountains on the trails with, high school boys I train, the list could go on forever. I'm inspired to see what exciting things they push themselves to. They've taught me limits are not barriers but just mile markers. My friends are anything but average, they do mountain bike races, documentaries, ultra marathons, Ironmans, podcasts. How could I be anything less than inspired every single day? I am who I am because of them!
Surround yourself with greatness and you can't lose.
3. Have A Plan-You have to have a plan. It's almost impossible to know where you're going without a roadmap. It's hard to know what your goals, dreams, and aspirations are. As cliché as it is, if you don't plan, plan to fail. Start each day, week, month, and year with a plan. Know where you're going and how you're going to get there. Readjust this roadmap as necessary.
4. Do The Things That are the Hardest-In any endeavor we take on there's things we just aren't good at. There will be things, we just don't want to do! They just f*cking suck. I was never good at hills on the bike. Why? Because they hurt every time I did them. They hurt because I never did them. I was never willing to take that step to confront my fears and face them straight on. I'm not amazing at hills but after 125,000 ft of elevation gain in three months I'm much better than I used to be. The things that you want to constantly navigate away from are most likely the things you need to do.
5. Consistency-This means so many different things to me. It means doing what you say you're going to do each and every day, it means sacrificing a Friday night to get done what you said you were going to do, it requires going out in the rain, snow, sun, or whatever to finish something. It basically means doing something every single day regardless of the circumstances or challenges. Consistency over a sustained period of time is anything but easy, but necessary.
Be unwavering, be strong, be consistent, be great, and be relentless.
