In a lot of ways, pushing yourself and getting better is a delicate balance. You want to challenge yourself, but you don't want to push so hard that you injure yourself. You want to fit in more items on a daily to-do list, but you don't want to burn yourself out or sacrifice rest and recovery time. You want to gain muscle, but not eat so much while doing so that you need to buy new pants.
It's balance.
But, perhaps the thing that is most challenging to get right is a balanced mindset. Some exercises (all good and valid forms of movement) don't require a ton of mental sacrifice. Going for a long walk is great for the body and great for the mind. You spend time meditating in a space for appreciation, self-respect, and gratitude.
Weightlifting and conditioning are different, requiring intensity, focus, discomfort, and a great deal of mental effort. I'd like to suggest a word that doesn't seem to belong in this environment. Meek.
Meekness, in my opinion, has been unfairly maligned by the English language. A quick dictionary search gives the definitions of submissive, gentle, spiritless, mild, resigned, and quiet. Not exactly the type of tough mindset that comes to mind when you're grinding out a sprint on the rower or doing yet another round of box jumps.
In German, the word for meek is sanftmütig. It is, literally translated, "gentle courage" or "gentle boldness." This approach gives meekness a lot more credit and perfectly illustrates the best mindset for progression and growth.
Gentleness -- humility -- is an essential quality for someone who's trying to get better. You need to be willing to take correction, recognize weakness in yourself, and be willing to listen to the ideas and approaches of others. As soon as ego gets in the way, as soon as you let go of that essential humility, you become less malleable in your goals and approaches, less valuable as a team member, and less teachable by your coach.
Courage and boldness, on the other hand, are needed to follow through on your humility. Coach says, "Why not take a heavier weight, today?" Those with too much ego dismiss this instruction, believing that they know better and don't need the additional trouble of adding more work. Those with too much mildness dismiss the instruction because they lack conviction in their own ability. Only those with the balance of the two set down the 30-pound weight and pick up the 35.
Humility answers with acceptance. Courage answers with confidence. Boldness answers with belief. The combination is formidable. Meekness is a formula of just enough humility to trust that you can always benefit from help and instruction, and just enough boldness to implement it with conviction.
Meek people become self-reliant. They become self-assured. They become more concerned with self-improvement than with self-aggrandizement. They become good teammates, but they are also strong enough to work alone with a grounded conviction. They complain less, and they take more beatings; they are okay with failure, but they also don't quit easily. They trust the process, they learn from mistakes, and they are okay with starting over.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
