A Parable About Practice

Nothing Gets Easier & There is No Rescue Party

We must fall in love with the process of growth, not the idea

A few years ago I decided to prove to myself I could keep up with high performing athletes.

As I’ve written before, I’ve never been secure in my athleticism — but I needed to do this.

I began by finding one of those gyms where former marines work out and they do tricep dips with chains on their shoulders like The Rock and have weekend retreats where they shoot assault rifles. My goal was to get to the point where I could keep up with their regular training sessions at 100% intensity.

I was starting from zero, so I began working on the side with one of the coaches to learn the movements, get clear on my baseline and determine what gains would look like for me. After a dozen or so sessions, I was ready to hit a regular class.

And it rocked me.

No joke — I finished a 6:00am class and went home, got back into bed and slept until 2:00pm.

In the following weeks I participated in a few more sessions and, though I wasn’t having to take naps anymore, I was still stumbling to my car, laying the seat back and trying not to black out for a few minutes.