As I struggled to lift the  two twenty five pound monster pieces of iron between my chest, I found myself yelling at myself mentally, (not out loud cause that be weird), to work harder! Naturally, I couldn’t get past another rep because honestly, I just didn’t care enough. I started to wonder however, what exactly does working hard mean? What are the parallels between the hard work you put in and the success that comes as result? So here are three early morning, testosterone induced thoughts on how I think working hard breaks down to.

1. Working Smart, Working Long

It always pained and frustrated me when I saw my peers in high school and college were able to perfectly balance the life of an academic and the life of a social, coo kid lifestyle. Yet, here I was thinking it had to be one or the other. How can you do both?! I was living in the Triple S mentality. (Choose two only of these three options, you can’t do all three. Sleep, School, Social.) And more often than now, Sleep and Social seemed like the logical choice. But in reflecting back on how I’ve been educating myself these days, I couldn’t help but notice the differences in how I approached the tasks and materials that I wanted to learn.

I lacked focus, I lacked the cognitive ability to see the bigger picture, and I lacked the mindset of rewarding myself not by the grades I was receiving, but that the journey and the growth associated with the struggle to get there.

Find ways to work smart, get creative, the solutions are there.

2. Building Habits to Build Your Foundation

What is a habit? I define it as this:

A habit is an action done repeatedly until it becomes an organic reaction. 

Is it right? I don’t know, but it works for me. Once you’ve figured out the smart way of getting things done, it becomes a manner of being disciplined into implementing it in a daily, weekly, monthly actions until it just becomes part of your subconscious mind to naturally repeat these actions. Habits are a series of choices that only we can make. Sure, it definitely helps to have someone to keeping you accountable, but at the end of the day, their words, their dutiful watch and care, will be fruitless if we aren’t making those daily choices.

Need an example? Just think of a bad habit that plagues your life. We all have them. I wear daily contacts and daily contacts comes with these little plastic…thingys that begs you to discard them once you rip them open. Unfortunately, I have not made the choice to first, put a trash can in my bathroom, (tmi? sorry bout it.) and secondly, make it a daily conscious effort to throw these things away. I have a mini Mount Rushmore of plastic thingys piling up on my bathroom counter that I need to do a better job in taking care of.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

3. Have An End Goal, But Don’t Make It Your Priority

Often times, when I’m dreaming of these seemingly ridiculous ideas, I tend to already quit before the fight has even begun. I’ve always wanted to dunk. To be able to fly in the sky, imitate Air Jordan’s masterpieces, and to yell in glory and ecstasy upon my return back to the Earth. And it’s a fun and explosive imagery to keep in mind. But when that becomes your main goal when committing your energy and emotions to, it can often nothing but a giant disappointment. Your expectations are raised to an insurmountable level, and when those expectations don’t meet reality, we give up.

Alternative solution: Focus on the steps that it takes to get there. Reward yourself on the mini victories that you are able to accomplish. I’m able to touch the rim? Awesome, high five Albert. I’m able to grab the rim with two hands? Woah! That’s crazy! Double high five Albert. Etc, etc.

Collectively, small steps and small victories make any goal possible.

So, to recap:

1. Work Smart. – long hours may not always be the most conducive way to get things done.

2. Build Habits – repeat your actions, repeat your results

3. Small Steps, Small Victories – embrace the process, reward yourself often.

Now it’s your turn. Let me hear from you. Is this all crap? What’s worked in your life? What hasn’t? What can be added?

Learning and Growing with you always <–my new slogan?  ,

Albert