Overnight Success…
Hey! I hope your day is going well!
How many times have you heard the term “overnight success?”
Such an attractive concept isn’t it?
When I think about this I often think about the Olympics. This year we saw hundreds of absolutely incredible athletes display their physical abilities on the worlds grandest platform. Some of them we had never seen before. I had never even heard of many of the American athletes including some of the swimmers and the gymnasts that were so dominant in their events.
Sometimes when watching this we often subconsciously buy into a notion of overnight success. Because we never see them doing anything other than winning their events, we may end up believing that these athletes are just so genetically gifted that they were able to do something that nobody else could do and that it all just came easy for them.
What we didn’t see were all the hours, days, weeks, months and years of work and sacrifice they put in to getting there. This concept was beautifully captured in an Under Armour ad about Michael Phelps. Its only 92 seconds long but it shows you a behind the scenes look at the sacrifices and the work he put in to becoming the best.
Click on the image below to watch it.
Now obviously you have no aspirations of becoming an Olympian. But I’m sure you do have some aspirations for your body, right?
Become pain free?
Not get injured?
Improve your physical conditioning?
Get stronger?
Have more endurance?
Lose weight?
Get back to doing something that you’ve had to give up?
Maybe for you, achieving these goals would be like winning your “gold medal.”
Well I’m here to tell you that just like winning a real gold medal, these goals take work, sacrifice, time, discipline and perseverance.
You will have setbacks.
You will have bad days.
You will get discouraged.
You will contemplate giving up.
You will make mistakes.
Those that win in the Olympics and those that achieve other health and fitness goals have one thing in common- they don’t allow those experiences to define them. They persevere, work harder and go one day, one workout, one meal, one nights sleep, one glass of water at a time until they get there.
I remember at age 16 being 10 months in to a 26 month chemotherapy protocol, 80 pounds overweight and so deconditioned that I physically couldn’t walk two blocks without literally feeling like I would pass out. I used to think that it was hopeless to even try to get better.
Then I had the wake up call that changed my life. In one day I made the decision to exercise, and I never stopped.
Later I made the decision to change my diet, and I never stopped. Later I decided to discover and adopt as many health promoting behaviors as I could, and I never stopped.
I wanted to be in great physical condition so badly and I remember thinking in the beginning “after 90 days I’ll be there.”
I wasn’t.
Then I thought “In another 6 months I’ll be there.”
I wasn’t.
6 months turned into a year, a year turned to 2. Then I felt like I was there.
For those two years I was obsessed. Every waking moment (in addition to work, school and everything else on my mind) I thought about my body, my workouts, my diet, my supplements and my health habits. I wanted it so bad that I didn’t care what I had to give up to get it.
I have never regretted it since.
Thankfully now I don’t have to be that obsessed. I can actually just dial it down and still maintain.
People look at me now and think I’m an “overnight success.” That I was born with great genetics and that my good health and fitness came easy. Not so.
It won’t be for you either. But I guarantee that you will think it was all worth it once you get there.
Keep going after the best. You’re worth nothing less!
Chris