Waste not your days in idleness

“Ye lads whose age is fitted for reading,” Alcuin said, “learn! The years go by like running water. Waste not the teachable days in idleness!” 

The years do pass by like an ever-flowing stream. 

And you're faced with one sobering reality—your days are numbered and you don’t how many you’ll get. 

So why waste them? 

Why spend them binging on entertainment and frivolous pursuits, when bigger, better and greater things are calling? 

You want to squeeze every drop you can out of life. To be the best and most remarkable version of yourself you can muster. 

You don’t slack and take your eye off the ball on purpose, it’s just the easiest thing to do.

One compromise here or there, and you slowly drift into idleness. 

You must fight compromise and idleness at every turn, especially on things that seem insignificant. That’s where your battle is won or lost. 

Big things are easy. It’s the small things that don’t appear the matter that in the end matter most of all. 

Reading is like that. It is a small habit that avoiding or forgetting doesn’t appear to impact your life today. And one day without reading doesn’t set your course for destruction and ruin. The problem comes when one day turns into two, and two becomes three, and so on and so forth until you look up one fine day and realize all the opportunities to learn and grow you've missed. 

It’s the same with what diet, exercise and a whole host of tiny habits and routines that don’t appear important on the surface. Their magic isn’t found in the days work, but in the compounding effect, they’ll have if you’re consistent over time. 

So stick to the path. 

Stay the course. 

Don’t allow slack and idleness to creep into your easy chair. In fact, throw out your easy chair and get after it because seizing the day ain’t easy. 

It takes constant vigilance to hold the line on even the tiniest of things.    

Who's Responsible For Your Health?

Your health is your responsibility. It’s not mine, your neighbor’s or the government's. 

It is 100% yours. 

You are responsible for it. 

Don’t shrug off that responsibility or give it away. 

Own it. 

After all, you’re the one who has to live with it day in and day out. 

The sooner you accept this, the sooner you can start making the changes necessary to ensure that you’re in the best possible shape. 

Before you get to the changes in diet, exercise, and routine, you’ve got to tackle this change of mindset. 

As long as you think your health is someone else’s responsibility you’ll never grow or improve. In short, you’ll be stuck with the same health issues you’ve always had. 

Exercise or Training?

Training has a specific goal or destination in mind. You form and structure your workouts around reaching your goals. Goals are paramount. If something doesn’t get you closer to them, it’s disregarded. It’s all about getting results and you only have time for those things that produce them. 

Exercise is the opposite. 

Training takes the long-term view. It designs each day’s workout around goals. Every set and every rep moves you closer and makes you better. 

Exercise requires less commitment, feels less risky, and requires little of you. Training requires forethought, planning, and accountability to results. 

Discipline takes the long-term view and training is the preferred approach. It is planned, structured and delivers results time and again. 

Exercise or training? 

Why do you workout?

Deep down in your bones, you know that exercise, or working out is important to your long-term health. You've known this since childhood. 

How often do you pause to think beyond the vague promise of a healthier life? How often do you consider a deeper reason for our sweat and tears? 

Working out is hard. It’s uncomfortable. It often hurts. And it pushes you to the breaking point on a regular basis. All that pain and all that suffering have to be about more than the promise of avoiding sickness. There’s no guarantee your time in the gym will help you avoid a cold or prevent real systemic disease from darkening your door. That promise can’t be made. 

So why put yourself through all that difficulty and pain, if there isn’t a guarantee? 

Because working out is about far more than empty promises and disease prevention. It’s about preparation. Preparation for future challenges of both a physical and mental nature. 

Running and lifting get your body ready for the next physical task. Be it a competition or a fight. It disciplines your body by exposing it to a milder form of pain today to prepare it for far greater pain at some later date. 

Showing up every day builds the discipline and mental toughness you need to conquer challenges that take place in a different arena as well. If you’ve been getting under the bar and placing yourself in uncomfortable situations for months and months, you’ll be less uncomfortable and stressed by life’s trials. You’ll have the mental resolve to power through and finish no matter how hard things get.

Workouts become training sessions in this new light. Each workout takes on a new meaning and purpose and either moves you closer to your goal or farther from it. 

Make each time you walk in the gym the training ground for life’s next great adventure. Look at all that sweat, time and pain as your best friend. Because that’s exactly what discipline is.