One Rep at a Time

Who remembers the day they landed their first double-under? I do! As simple as this can feel once you get the hang of it, there’s a lot of hard work, dedication, and frustration that can go into making that first rep happen. Justin recently got his first one (!!!!) and seeing it happen got me thinking…

As painful as it is to see people struggle when they’re in for class, witnessing how much effort goes into each stride that’s made makes victory that much sweeter when progress does come. Justin worked his butt off for this one rep! Had he not struggled with them for a while, he probably wouldn’t have been as proud as he was with his accomplishment. Difficulty is good—it teaches us to persevere when things get tough and it makes us genuinely appreciate our efforts when we see through what we’re working on. Don’t forget that!

In this instance, there were people all over the room knocking out sets of double-unders in mass quantity. Justin could have easily passed by acknowledging his accomplishment because, even though had just made an impressive step forward, he still wasn’t up to what some other people were doing. Thankfully, he didn’t. He stopped, smiled, and took a second to be proud of what he had just accomplished (and I’m not talking about a “look at me” moment, but just a simple recognition of what he did).

These are the moments that are so easy to overlook, but also the exact path to legitimate progress. In school, we don't feel like we make/made progress day-by-day, right? But, after time, we can look back and see that by chipping away we've learned some things!

Hard work is good for you—embrace it. We’ve got plenty more headed your way. At the same time, don’t neglect giving yourself some props for taking steps forward—even when they’re small. Progress happens one rep at a time; appreciate it and you when you see it happen and then keep doing what you’re doing!

Congrats, Justin!

*No, he didn’t work out in sandals and a backpack.