Keep Your Eye On the Prize

Some of my best thoughts and ideas come to me after I leave the gym. I'm usually feeling pretty high on life and ready to conquer the world after I walk out of the building. Often times I sit in silence on my way to work, protein shake in hand, reflecting on what I just did and how I'm going to make it better going forward.

More than the obvious physiological benefits that go along with training, the thing I enjoy the most is the process itself.

I approach training much like a grand experiment that will go on for a lifetime. What did I do well? What did I suck at? How can I make adjustments to this moving forward? I enjoy every aspect of training my body and mind to be as sharp as possible. The act of getting better and the science behind it are what continue to drive me every day.

Earlier this week on my way to work, I recalled an old lesson from my high school basketball coach. It was 1998 and we were about to embark upon our season. We all gathered 'round Coach in the locker room either before practice or before out first game while he read a passage to us from what I think was Rick Pitino's recent book "Success is a Choice". The subject being "Keep Your Eye on the Prize". There are some moments in life you remember very clearly, and for some reason this was one of those moments for me.

Eye on the Prize is a mantra meaning one should always keep the end goal in mind. For us, it was making the playoffs, or a district title or something of that nature. The exact goal at the time isn't important. Anyway, that mantra became the focus of our season. We had t-shirts made with that statement printed on the back. Coach put a sign on the wall at the exit to the locker room. He said it over and over during conditioning, practice, and throughout games. No wonder I still remember it. I'm sure many of you that played sports or coach presently have done something similar.

Reflecting on that mantra made me think about how important this kind of attitude is in training, business and life in general. There are always going to be highs and lows on our journey to self-improvement. The important thing is that we always keep the end goal in mind.

Maybe you had a bad day in the gym. You had a few too many beers last night and you feel like a weak pile of shit. Or maybe you failed to hit your numbers this quarter at work and aren't getting that bonus you were hoping for. It is times such as these where we can't lose sight of the big picture.

Pick yourself up and keep moving forward. If we all made never ending linear progress, we would all squat 1000 pounds and be filthy rich. This is what makes the journey worth while. KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE.

The same is true on the opposite end of the spectrum. When you achieve a victory feel free to celebrate, but don't get overconfident. Stay humble. Stay hungry.

Celebrate the small victories, don't dwell on the failures, and KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE.

In fact, when I thought about it I remembered I still have that tattered old shirt in a dresser somewhere. So I dug it out.

Here's to the good old days!