'Work proceeds the belief.'
~ Andy Frisella
June of 2024 I came across Andy Frisella's book, "The Book on Mental Toughness" and his "Power List."
At the time I was on day 3 of 75 HARD (which was my 3rd time through. 2021-2022 I completed 75 HARD and Phase 1. But failed "Live Hard.")
Why was I doing 75 HARD again and following the Power List?
Two words.
COMFORT ZONE.
For 15 months I was trapped in my comfort zone.
A Toxic Cycle which took some time getting out of.
Paradox Series: If you're just joining us, this is part 4 of 5 on paradoxes. How the very things we think restrict us actually give us freedom; how the very things we think give us freedom, actually enslave us (which keep you from being consistent towards your goals.) For context, read part 1 and 2, and 3 then come back here.
(February 2023)
I "put things on hold."
(I went LIVE in our kettlebell community where I talked about it all, in detail.)
In that time, I slacked on many things; one of them was writing on a consistent basis.
My story was, "well, I'm busy."
(Which was a lie.)
As time went on, it got harder and harder to get back into the daily discipline of writing.
The only way out was to get UNCOMFORTABLE.
Which brings me to the next part in this series.
The Paradox of Externals
Born of Fire
-pg.4-
"The 'externals' are designed to get you outside of your comfort zone and push you to your limits. By design, we experience no comforts in the desert.
As men, we can only grow by being pushed to our limits and then breaking through.
Now, the internal struggles, are a different animal. The external breakthroughs lead to the internal breakthroughs, breakthroughs of the heart.
A lot of men can go to the desert and 'do' hard things for a period of time, but it takes a certain kind of man to go on the 'interior journey,' a journey, where he is invited to face himself, his weakness, his poverty, and his brokenness." ~ Born of Fire, pg. 4
We need the externals to grow strong... and yet we avoid them because they are uncomfortable.
When in reality... making ourselves uncomfortable, by doing hard things, accelerates not only our progress in life...
... but also builds mental toughness––an interior transformation.
In part 3, I mentioned, "An interior transformation cannot happen without an external experience."
According to Aristotle, it is an evident fact all our knowledge (internal transformation) begins with and depends on experience, especially sensory experience.
Essentially... we grow in knowledge and understanding through sense experience.
In this context, with external experiences (i.e., ACTION) come stories.
With stories come belief(s).
With belief(s) comes ACTION.
(This is an example of what we call a "Better Man Cycle." The antidote to freeing ourselves from our Toxic Cycle.)
Action is what I needed to rebuild consistency; resulting in an interior transformation, i.e., belief.
Belief that I have what it takes to re-build Hardstyle to what it once was.
What does this have to do with you?
What actions are you avoiding to remain in your comfort zone?
Actions which would lead to your interior transformation.
If you're willing, drop a comment below or shoot me DM in the ACADEMY and let me know.
Appreciate you reading.
hec g.
Btw...
I greatly enjoyed Andy's "Power List" because it's in complete alignment with our values and what we teach out students at Hardstyle.
We call them, "Daily Disciplines."*
A step-by-step system to help our students build discipline –– in a non-restrictive way.
So they can do the work in front of them, build confidence, get more from their workouts, and bring more value to their community.
More on these another day.
P.S. Change for many of us is difficulty; in fact, change itself is a bit of a paradox. I debated with myself on where or not to include the paradox of change it in this series. But I chose to save it for later. As I will use it in a different context.
P.P.S. If you wanna know why I was "silent" for 15 months...
... I shared the details here in the community.
If you make it there... drop a comment to say hello.
(To be continued...)