Little excerpt from Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss – love this. Savour this with all that you do as a parent, executive, teacher, business person, athlete .. It was written by Coach Sommer to his athlete (I think it was in fact written to Tim). The athlete was frustrated by their lack of progress after a few weeks of training. This was the coach’s response:
Hi
Patience. Far too soon to expect strength improvements. Strength improvements take a minimum of 6 weeks. Any perceived improvements prior to this are simply a result of the central nervous systems becoming more efficient at a particular movement with practise.
Dealing with the temporary frustration of not making progress is an integral part of the path towards excellence. In fact, it is essential and something that every single elite athlete has had to learn to deal with. If the pursuit of excellence was easy, everyone would do it. in fact, this impatience in dealing with frustration is the primary reason that most people fail to achieve their goals. Unreasonable expectations timewise, resulting in unnecessary frustration, due to a perceived feeling of failure. Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process.
The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home.
A blue-collar work ethic married to an indomitable will. It is literally that simple. Nothing interferes. Nothing can sway you from your purpose. Once the decision is made, simply refuse to budge. Refuse to compromise.
And accept that quality long-term results require quality long-term focus. No drama. No emotion. No beating yourself up over small bumps in the road. Learn to enjoy and appreciate the process. This is especially important because you are going to spend far more time on the actual journey than with those all too brief moments of triumph at the end.
Certainly, celebrate the moments of triumph when they occur. More importantly, learn from defeats when they happen. In fact, if you are not encountering defeat on a fairly regular basis, you are not trying hard enough. And absolutely refuse to accept less than your best.
Throw out the timeline. It will take what it takes!
Love it!!