When most people start training (including myself back in the day), they see fitness as an event - as something that would suddenly come to be. For example, you might have imagined what your life would be once you got in shape - how confident you would feel, and more.

But as time passes and the person gains experience, they realize that fitness doesn’t have an endpoint. It’s a continual process that requires time, effort, and sacrifice. If you stop putting in the effort, you start losing the progress you’ve made.

And this is the point of my email to you:

We live in an event-driven world. Everywhere we look, we are constantly bombarded with headlines of events:

• Man loses 100 pounds and changes his life forever
• NBA star signs a record deal with Nike
• New deadlift world record by Hafthor Bjornsson

This idea of pursuing events has been ingrained into our minds, and we quickly become frustrated when our efforts don’t yield results right away. This is incredibly common in fitness, as countless people get frustrated and give up because they don’t see the results as fast as they expected.

But here is the thing:

We often notice the events, but we don’t see the process that led to these events. The man that lost 100 pounds? Sure, everyone pays attention to the headline. But few people ever notice that he’s dieted diligently for over a year and has had over 150 workouts in that time. While most people lived on fast food and visited the gym three times a year, he stuck to his daily calorie goal and did his workouts no matter how he felt.

The same goes for the ‘overnight success’ NBA star who signed a $50 million contract and got sponsored by Nike. We see the event, but few people saw the process behind it: the late nights, the early mornings, the injuries, the rejections, the fears, and frustrations.

Most of what we see in our lives is the result of an underlying process. An overweight person ended up this way because of a process, much as the fit person did. The only difference is, their choices pushed them toward different outcomes.

What does this mean for us?

Well, for one, it means that we should focus on the day-to-day. Sure, you have a goal, as does almost everyone else. The question is, what actions are you taking to get closer to your destination? Without an actionable plan, your goal is nothing more than a bland statement written somewhere.

Second, it means that we should focus on being consistent instead of trying to be perfect. Since I’ve already given a basketball example, allow me to do so again:

Michael Jordan has reportedly missed over 9,000 shots in his career, 26 of which would have been game-winning. Yet, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players to ever step on the court. Why is that? Consistency. Sure, he’s had his fair share of failures. But because of sheer consistency, he’s also been able to land 32,292 career points and 25 game-winning shots.

In other words, no matter what we pursue, we need to fail a fair amount. And the only way to overcome failure is to persist through it and come out on the other side.

Thank you for your time! Until next week,

Philip

P.S. If you’re interested in reading more on the importance of consistency, click here.

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