“Everyday we come in, we should move dirt! Some days you get a shovel, some days you get a spoon. But either way, you move the dirt.” – John Welbourn
The first time I heard this quote was one week after I had signed up for my first IronMan. At the moment I didn’t realize how impactful it would be for me. But has it changed my perspective on training?
Let’s rewind and get some backstory. For over 10 years I have been in the fitness world, whether it was Football, Functional Fitness, or most recently Weightlifting. Through all of these, I had learned a general appreciation for hard work, though it never felt hard. I genuinely enjoyed all of these endeavors so the grind of training didn’t seem so bad. But I have also always loved a good challenge.
So back in March, I jumped off the deep end! I signed up for the most difficult Triathlon event in the world! The IronMan! For those of you unfamiliar with the IronMan, it consists of a 2.4 Mile Swim, a 112 Mile Bike, and a 26.2 Mile Run! None of these are my cup of tea, and when you combine them all, it becomes my nightmare! So I’ve signed up for this event and now I have to completely rethink my training!
In the past, I have gravitated towards events that I knew I would be good at. Not anymore! And within the first week, I had already contemplated quitting and going back to weightlifting. I was so far behind where I felt I should be, and didn’t feel like in the short time frame I had given myself would be enough! Then all of a sudden, booming through my headphones, comes this quote!
“Everyday we come in, we should move dirt! Some days you get a shovel, some days you get a spoon. But either way, you move the dirt.” – John Welbourn
This isn’t that earth-shattering of a concept, but it spoke to me at that moment! I needed to quit looking at the mountain of work in front of me, instead, focus on the task at hand. Move the dirt! I started with a spoon, I just wasn’t seeing the progress, but I kept digging into the training and focusing on the task at hand. That pulled me out of a very negative headspace and honestly a bit of funk!
The reason I share this with you is that all of us have goals! Some are in Fitness, Business, Financial, even Family. Nonetheless, one of the traits of quality goal setting is picking something that is at the border of your capacity! This means you are going to be pushed, some times to a breaking point! But break that goal down, into small spoonfuls (or shovels) full of dirt! We are on the journey to breaking down our mountainous goal until all of a sudden you’ve accomplished greatness!
I feel like too often in our society we are urged closer to comfort. We don’t need to do uncomfortable things each day, so why would we! You don’t have to hunt your food, you can sleep in safety every night, and hell you can go to a faucet and get clean water at any time of the day! So I want to urge you to push out of that comfort zone, find the thing that scares you, and lean into it! Go after discomfort, and I promise you that you will emerge a more driven and well-rounded human!
