Change These Words and Change Your Life

Here’s something to consider.

Your training peaks, plateaus, setbacks, and triumphs are all happening FOR you not TO you.

When you hit a PR it is happening FOR you not TO you.

When you bomb out at a meet it is happening FOR you not TO you.

When you tweak your back and can’t lift for months it is happening FOR you not TO you.

When you find a new training partner after months of training alone it is happening FOR you not TO you.

But what does this mean?

It means that your training experiences are trying to tell you something.

If your back is injured and it never seems to heal fully it is happening FOR you not TO you.

Perhaps you are coming back to quickly. Perhaps you need to go see an expert and stop trying to treat yourself. Perhaps you are doing exercises that hurt it without even knowing it. Perhaps you need to take a step back, rest, and do what is right for your body and not for your ego.

If you keep missing a PR attempt lift week after week, and month after month it is happening FOR you not TO you.

Perhaps you need to learn to be patient Perhaps you need to get a coach to change your technique. Perhaps you need to focus on getting stronger. Perhaps you need to focus on sleep and recovering properly. Perhaps you are simply being taught to be determined and stick with the process even when results don’t come when we think they should.

Every setback that you encounter is trying desperately to teach you something.

Listen to it.

At a certain point you have to be willing to learn.

You have to stop thinking “Why is this happening to me?”

When you think this you are immediately absolving yourself of any responsibility whatsoever. You bombed out at your last meet due to some external, unknowable force, and there is nothing more to it. Then you go out to your next meet and do the same thing again.

What you need to do is to take a step back and ask “Why is this happening FOR me?”

Maybe it is teaching you to calm down for a second and rest

Maybe it is teaching you to stop relying so much on yourself and to accept the help of others.

Maybe it is teaching you to be a better training partner and friend.

Maybe it is teaching you to redefine your definition of success and failure.

I don’t know what lessons your training is going to teach you but I do know that in order to learn you must realize that whatever experience you are having is happening FOR you and not TO you.

This is a distinction that can change your life.

And this is a distinction you can begin making right now.

Good luck.

Also watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lssO92BNsJc