4:45 AM- Sports gear is worn; she’s trying to fit her foot into her sneakers when she hears something.
Lolo 1 – Why are you jogging today? Your body is so sore, rest a bit.
Lolo 2 – Rest? Put on your sneakers and let’s go!
Oh! Oh! They are here again- battle of the inner voices- Who’s going to win this morning, Lolo thinks to herself. She puts on her sneakers, ready to stretch at home before walking to the road to start her run.
Lolo 1 – Babe o! Oya after this stretch why don’t you just do abs at home or something- shea its workout na.
Lolo 2 – Don’t stretch at home; walk to the junction and stretch – It’s a trap! And also, play your favorite motivational audio as you walk to the junction.
I will not stop by Ben Lionel Scott is playing in her earpiece as she walks to the junction- she decides not to do her normal routine stretch but instead substitute it for a light jog as the warm-up.
She begins to jog.
Lolo 1 – This pace no bad o! Why don’t you maintain this pace until the end?
Lolo2 – She’s barely breaking a sweat- what exactly is your mission here? Lolo! Warm up is over – Let’s Run!
She is tired, she wants to run but her body is giving up on her. She begins to step – Left foot! Right foot until she was fully immersed in the euphoria from the jog.
Throughout the run, she continues to listen to Lolo2 because she knows that the more she listens and obeys, the weaker Lolo1 gets; but she’s also aware that Lolo1 is relentless- she doesn’t quit even when one is almost at the finish line.
Two minutes away from her final destination- it’s time for the sprint, she begins to hype herself for it
Lolo1 – No go wound yourself o! See those guys over there will just laugh at you
Lolo2 – Why do you care if they laugh?
I don’t!
Lolo2 – Good! So sprint and oh! Hope you didn’t forget the 100 squats and wall push-ups waiting at home.
Lolo is done with her run, squats, and wall-push up. Another day of defeating Lolo1 – wow! Almost unbelievable considering how close they used to be! God pass Devil last last! Tomorrow we fight again!
Mental Toughness
There is a tale that goes something like this:
An old Cherokee told his grandson, “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all.
One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and truth.”
The boy thought about it, and asked, “Grandfather, which wolf wins?”
The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”
Every one of us have many voices within us but the one we feed and nurture becomes the default voice we hear!
How can we be productive and achieve our goals relying on something as fickle as motivation?
So many of us have set goals for ourselves but we feel that we need the motivation to start or continue. We like the voice that makes it easier for us.
We want to drop 10kg but that puff puff woman is right at our doorstep- and even when we know that it’s not on our meal plan, the voice convinces us that just 3 small puff puff won’t do any harm.
We want to write more or shoot that video but my goodness! We don’t have the zeal yet. We post one week and the next week – radio silence. We are unable to follow our schedules because we need the motivation to work.
But how can we be productive and achieve our goals relying on something as fickle as motivation? We fail to realize that we need to train our minds to follow what we want.
Have you not seen some people who are not as talented or intelligent as you are but they keep soaring? You don’t understand it because you know you have the right recipe for success but it’s not forthcoming. The truth is that our talent doesn’t count here, that intellect we take pride in can’t always be there to help us!
Researches have shown that intelligence only accounts for 30% of our achievements and that’s the extreme upper hand – What makes a bigger impact is our MENTAL TOUGHNESS.
The ability to do what we need to do, when no one is watching and willing to reward us for your decision – even when we are frustrated, our ability to look past it and train that voice of faith to be so powerful that it drowns the other voices.
Developing mental strength requires that we make conscious decisions to do what needs to be done on a DAILY BASIS and not only when we feel good or motivated. We need to continue to work the muscle of the mind because many times, we are not weak, just our minds.
And just like James Clear says- Mental toughness is an abstract quality, but in the real world it’s tied to concrete actions. You can’t magically think your way to becoming mentally tough, you prove it to yourself by doing something in real life.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Do Have a great week and I hope you continue to prove it to yourself that you can achieve anything you want, once you set your mind to it.
