“Just remember, the sweet is never as sweet without the sour.” Brian from Vanilla Sky
First, the definition:
“The inner quality that enables individuals to work hard and stick to their short-term goals and long-term passions, coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve their respective objective.”
Now the word:
Grit.
Grit isn’t about how fast you are or how much weight you can put up; it’s about what your mind is telling you when you’re experiencing discomfort.
Grit is what drives you through a grueling workout. It’s what pushes you to do better than the last time.
I know you’ve heard this voice before.
I used to hear a voice telling me to stop – that I can’t do anymore – that it’s uncomfortable. That voice has gotten quiet – most times I don’t even hear it.
Now my grit talks – it yells at me. “One More!”
It’s often said that sports are 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. This may not be completely accurate but we all know that the mental game has a lot to do with success. How many times have you gone through a work out, getting halfway through thinking “There’s no way I’m going to make it”. You push yourself through it and realize “I can’t believe I just did that!”? That’s the mental game.
We (athletes) focus so much on the physical aspect of fitness but the big successes come from the mental aspect. This is what sets apart two elite athletes (assuming their sleep, stress. and nutrition are dialed in).
The fact is, your mind will give up before your body. You are physically capable of pushing yourself further and harder than what your brain is telling you. Once you control your mind you control your outcome. You control how far your body will go.
Your mind is the limiting factor – and you have 100% control over it.
You can either be good at dealing with stress or you can be brittle.
In fact, once you step outside of your comfort zone, that’s where the magic happens. The things you never thought were possible come to fruition.
Mastering the skill of becoming comfortable with discomfort will allow you to master anything.
The goal is to push through the discomfort – it’s never as bad as you imagine it. Once you push through it, you’ll have a feeling of accomplishment which creates momentum to push you forward. Once you get that momentum, there’s no stopping you.
Mark Divine, a retired Navy SEAL Commander who served 9 years on active duty and 11 years as a Reserve Seal, is the founder of SEALFIT, author of Unbeatable Mind and The Way of the Seal. Mark’s a badass. He has more mental toughness and grit than anyone you’ll ever meet. Mark has four mental toughness rules that will get you through anything.
- 1. Breath control and awareness – Use breath control between intervals and segments, during training and for recover. Breathing properly leads to more control over your body.Mark recommends Box Breathing – breath in through the nose (4 count), pause (4 count), breath out (4 count), pause (4 count) – do this a minimum of 4 times. Remove the pauses during an intense workout if you have to.2. Positivity – Maintain positive awareness of your internal dialogue. Use mantras/affirmations and smile through the discomfort.Mark recommends the following mantra: “Look good, feel good, oughta be in Hollywood.” It sounds silly to repeat this through a grueling workout but it works!3. Micro-goal setting – Understand the workout and parameters. Then break them down into micro goals by determining what you need to do RIGHT NOW. Keep telling yourself “one more” like “one more burpee”
4. Imagery and visualization – Avoid imagery of disaster and weakness such as seeing yourself quit a WOD. Instead, focus on success at a high level. Embrace and note the “suck” and redirect to something positive. See yourself crushing the task – lifting and excelling. Fill your mind with rich internal images of success – again feed your “courage wolf”. He recommends you find your “mind gym” – a special place where you could go inside your head to escape, to train and to prepare for stressful situations.
And my recommendation – Keep your head up no matter what. You’ll maintain a boost of mental power and positive mood throughout the discomfort.
Once you accept the discomfort and become comfortable with it – that’s when you’ll truly grow.
The sour – that pain in your legs as you lower the weighted barbell.
The sweet – the feeling of accomplishment when you realize you just PRed your squat.
Embrace the sour – listen to your grit.
QUICK WIN: Prime your mind for the workout – Before a training practice, do 2 minutes of visualization, mentally rehearsing the workout. See yourself going through the workout with a smile on your face, enjoying the workout and winning, whatever winning is to you (like PRing your squat). Make it so compelling that all you want to do is begin. The key is to see the problems you might encounter and visualize how you will overcome them. When things get tough, refer back to your visualization.
This is part of a free eight week course called 10X Your Potential. This course is designed to take you beyond fitness and your daily WOD, and help you reduce injury, boost energy levels and skyrocket performance. If you’re interested in the full course, sign up here.