dream | act | succeed

A bodybuilder in the gym, an ultra marathon runner in the desert, a cyclist from the Tour de France. For them, this slogan seems to be suitable, but for us? Well, we better stop when it hurts, right? We do not want to get injured.

Let’s face it, in our day to day life, we do not push any boundaries. We do not drive to work with the same enthusiasm a race car driver goes to the 24 hours of Le Mans. We do not focus on our tasks, like an astronaut is focusing on the docking process to the ISS. We are trying to do a lot. We are trying to be productive. We are trying to be efficient. We are trying to be good team players. We are trying to do our best. But keep on going when it hurts? We don’t usually do that. Sure, sometimes it hurts, but that is causing quite a different reaction. We stop doing what we do. We stop believing in the tasks ahead. We stop thinking it through until the very end. No! We just want to make it hurt less.

Why do you go to work? What is your motivation? What is your drive? The money? The recognition? The power? The tasks? Whatever you are doing in life, always ask yourself this one simple question. Why?

Discipline is like a mirror. Whatever you think on the inside will be the outcome everyone else can see. Whatever you can imagine in your head, represents the limit of your life. Flying to the moon, racing in Le Mans, cycling the Tour de France.

Keep on going when it hurts is of course just a metaphor for moving on. If you are seriously injured, please, by all means, stop it! Take a break! Relax! Recover! But most of the time it doesn’t even hurt. We do not even reach this point. We stop way before it anyways. Not intentionally of course, but because we are getting used to things pretty easily. In case you have ever jumped between different departments or classes or groups of people quite frequently, you will agree to the following. We adapt so quickly to our environment, unbelievable. It doesn’t even take us two weeks and we have copied the behaviors and routines of our new group. I have experienced this at work all the time. During my apprenticeship and studying program, I was in over 10 different departments in the last 8 years. And even if those departments are doing pretty much the same stuff, still, they are doing things differently. They have other kinds of meetings, other work ethics, other ways of communicating. But we, the new person that comes to the group, we adapt. We change, or at least pretend that we are one of them. We try to play a part in their game. Follow their rules. Try to do not stick out of the ordinary.

That this might be wrong, is not the topic today, the question is just that. Are you allowed to over perform? To stick out? To make things different? Better? More efficient? Are we allowed to brake the rules? To bend the rules? To try new approaches! If you want to come far in life, you have to options. Either you please everyone there is and never stand out from the masses, or you do your own thing, be honest and stand to your own words.

Discipline comes from the inside. Discipline comes from within. Your discipline is reflecting your mindset, your thoughts, your personality. Life is this complex thing we do not seem to understand, but is there even a need to understand it? Just ask yourself if you are doing enough! Does your outcome reflect your input? Do you get out of the equation what you want? What you desire? Is whatever you want to achieve in life a possible thing for you to achieve with the things you are currently doing? Or could you do more?

Keep on going, my friend! Do not stop midway. Do not become one of those. Stay who you are! Stay hungry! Stay energetic! Have the balls to stand to your personal opinion.

See you next time!