3 Types of Pain you Must Push Through

Throughout the course of your life you will be exposed to a lot of pain, especially if you're trying to be very successful. A key skill that will help you on your journey to success, is understanding how to deal with different types of pain. Here, I've divided the types of pin you will encounter int three broad catergories. Knowing how to manage each type when you encounter it will make you much less prone to failure or quitting early.

1) Physical Pain

This is most commonly talked-about pain. This is the kind of pain you literally need to "push through" if you want to be successful. This pain occurs when you're doing physical activity. The majority of motivational videos are based upon pushing through pain in the physical sense. Understanding the basis of physical pain is very simple, but it's not necessarily easy. It takes a lot of willpower to increase your physical pain threshold. That's why many Olympians and professional athletes are such a rare breed. Because they're not afraid to push through extreme physical pain. You have to stay focused on the destination and reward for not quitting. If you focus too much on the physical pain, you will not be successful.

2) Mental/Psychological Pain

Have you ever been studying for an exam or reading a book, and felt exhausted after a certain amount of time? Or been sitting in meetings or filing taxes/paperwork for an extended period of time, and felt exhausted? This is mental pain. That's why people who work at a desk all day can come home and feel tired. It's not because they are physically exhausted, but mentally and psychologically exhausted. You must understand that your ability to persist through this type of pain is essential to your success in this day and age. With the advancement of technology, you may have to be at your computer or laptop for hours on end in order to be successful. You have to be willing to persist and push through the pain!

3) Emotional/Spiritual Pain

Whenever you are rejected by others or turned-down for a certain opportunity, you will experience emotional pain. The reason this pain differs so greatly from that of the other two, is that we on't actively seek out this type of pain. This specific type of discomfort occurs when another person rejects or betrays you, which is entirely out of your control. Ever applied for a job and didn't get the job offer? How did it make you feel? Most likely, you were less inclined to apply for a different job from that same company. That's becasue you let the hiring manager break your spirit, and you gave up. The way to push through emotional pin, is simply to be persistent. Here, you'e not just fighting against your own willpower, but your fighting against other people's opinion of you. You have to be strong-willed her. Other people will be against you, but if you persist against the grain, you will be successful.

All in all, you need to be persistent in your pursuit of your goals. If you choose to push through the massive amounts of pain that will be throw your way, you'll eventually succeed. It won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight. You need to stay motivated over the long-term, and set our goals high.

Video Review: Who Do I Need to Become?

I'll be honest, I was planning on using a different video for Monday Motivational. I initially had an Elliott Hulse video planned, and he'll certainly be featured here soon. But that was before I came across this one, and I feel as though this one is more relevant. I also liked how the first minute of this video had me hooked with the line "who do you want to be tomorrow? The guy who quit? Or the guy that kept going?"

This video features two speakers, Freddy Fri and Chris Ross. I hadn't previously heard of either of these speakers before, but after watching this video I definitely need to listen to more of their speeches. I personally loved the unique insight this video brought. Most motivational videos I've come across have focused mainly on the present moment, and the challenges you'll have to face. This video however, focuses on tomorrow. It's not about waiting until tomorrow to get to work, but more about how you will feel about yourself in the future if you choose to act today.

Every single decision you choose to make will affect your future. You choose to go to the gym this morning? Then you'll be more inclined to do so in the future. You choose to wake up at 5AM today? Then you'll be more productive and better prepared for the future. You choose to go to a networking event? That might land you a great business opportunity in the future. 

You must realize that every opportunity you have is significant to your future. It may seem like no big deal to skip your workout, call in sick for work, or sleep in late one day. But it is a huge deal! While it may not seem that way, the decisions you make today, especially the really difficult ones, will determine who you'll be in the next month, year, and further in the future. 

I want to leave you all with this one thought before you go about your day:

Even if you have the best thoughts and ideas, but don't put them into action, you will achieve nothing. An average thought plus execution, is worth much more than a genius thought that was never put into action. Make the decision to act today. It will make you a better person tomorrow. 

Happy Monday!

How to Give 120% Effort!

A lot of times you'll hear motivational speakers, coaches, or other influential leaders talk about putting 110% or 120% effort into whatever you're working towards. On the surface, this may seem like a good phrase to use when motivating a group of people, but in a factual sense it's only physically possible to give 100% effort, right? When you give 100% effort, you're literally giving all you have, right? 

Wrong

You see, when you give 100% effort, you're actually putting in as much effort as you THINK is possible. The issue that most of us have, is that we put mental limits on our ability to do things. We naturally leave 20% of our ability in "storage" and never truly put in as much effort as possible when we go 100%. The reason for this is biological. It's never evolutionarily helpful to exhaust 100% of your energy or abilities, because you may need that extra 20% later on to survive if you're a hunter-gatherer. 

Today however, this evolutionary trait screws us over, because we naturally don't put in that extra 20% effort unless we can tap into it. So by saying you'll give 120%, you're mentally going above and beyond what YOU THINK your true abilities are. People who put in 100% effort say "I'm going to try my absolute hardest to win this game". Those who put in 120% effort say "I will win this game, no matter the cost!"

Think about it as if you're running away from a school shooter, dangerous animal, etc. I don't care how tired you are, you WILL not stop running from this threat until you reach safety. I know this is an extreme example, but when your life is in danger, that's one of the only times where we naturally can break that 100% mental barrier. You need to have that same mindset with whatever you're doing. Pretend your life is at stake.

In the past, most of us (myself included) have been putting in 70-100% effort, thinking we're doing all we can. Today, I want you to trump that 100% barrier. Put in 120% effort into whatever you set out to do today! Don't simply try your hardest, but find a way to make your goals and dreams a reality. 

No mater the cost!

Workout Multiplayer Card Game

We all have goals in our lives, and one of the most popular is to get in better shape. While very few people are able to commit to this, making it into a game seems to make hard work a lot more entertaining. We've all heard of the deck of cards workout (from my video from a few weeks back), but here's a sample game you can play with a group of friends. We're always more motivated when around other people, so this is a great competitive game which involves a lot of positive feedback and pressure. Give it a try!

- Pick a workout move (push ups, sit ups, squats, etc)

- First Player picks a card from the shuffled deck of 52

- That player may choose to either do the number of reps on that card or draw again

- If the player draws a higher card, the person to the left has to do the number of reps on the second card

- If the player draws a lower card, they have to do all the reps on the lower card PLUS the number of reps on the originally drawn card

- If the same number Card is drawn, BOTH PLAYERS have to do the total number of reps on BOTH CARDS
- All face cards are worth 10 reps, Aces are 25 reps, and each Joker is 50!

- The next player draws, and the process continues until the whole deck is finished

- Shuffle them again and pick a new workout move

- Continue this cycle until you're fully exhausted