”Don’t compare your beginnings to someone else’s middle.” -Jon Acuff-
I remember serving at a Temporary Duty (TDY) location, and being curious of the fitness levels of the men and women around me. I mean, these guys and women were in beast mode while we were there! On one TDY, I asked a my roommate, who always seemed to be working out, to give me some pointers. “All I do is push-ups and situ-ps” he told me. “50 in the morning, 50 during lunch, and 50 before I go to bed”. To me, this guy looked like he spent hours in the gym, possibly bench pressing the entire rack. There was no way all he did was push-up and sit-ups. That was the day that I started my own 30-30-30 routine. I did 3 sets of 30 reps of 3 exercises. I did this routine every morning for the remaining months. By the end of my TDY, the routine was easier to do, however, I did not come remotely close to becoming as ripped as my friend. I continued the routines after my return home, But my body did not change, I wasn’t bulking up. Of course, This discouraged me so, I increased the number of reps and I did the sets more frequently (every hour on the hour). Eventually ended up hurting my shoulder which caused me to stop. The military doctors told me I was doing “too many push-ups.” Through out this several year endeavor to bulk up, I didn’t seem to get as ripped as my friend was.
Hindered by my ability to do exercises that effected my shoulders, I started running more. I would see other runners on the trail who made it look effortless. In my mind, my runs, looked like a struggle. In my ”Corey reality”, their easy stride, made their run seem doable for me. I remember taking a team of Air Force Reserve Training Corp (ROTC) cadets to participate in the Air Force Marathon. I saw a guy who looked to be about 4 times my size crossing the finish line of the 26.1 mile race. This made me believe that I should be able to get up right then and run the entire race, twice. On my very next run, I struggled to finish the first two miles of my run.
In both of these scenario I did just as many others do when they are starting a new endeavor. I looked at what others where doing, and didn’t take into account their training, practice, and all of the other effort that they put in prior to me seeing them. I compared my beginner efforts to their middle results. At every step of the way, because I could not get their results with my efforts, I felt discouraged and didn’t continue with my workouts. I heard Dave Ramsey say, after “30 years of hard work, suddenly I’m an overnight success.” This statement made me rethink how I viewed my results. Here are some of the lessons that I have learned along the way:
- Comparing the work I put in to the results of those around me will only serve to discourage me. My wife said something that prompted an “Ah ha” moment in my mind. She told me and our children, “you don’t know what someone else has been through to get where they are.” I’ve learned to judge my results by the efforts that I put in. I now look back and I realize, I am not where I started. I no longer struggling to find time to exercise, it is a big part of my daily life. I, also, able to run further distances and lift heavier weights. All of the work that I’ve done over the months and years of training have gotten me here. I learned to pat myself on the back and be proud at my own efforts and accomplishments.
- Workout for the person I am today. One of the tools I use is the Nike Run Club app for my iPhone. During one training run, the coach said, give 100% of the person you are today. It took a while for the statement to sink in, but I am not the person I was when I first started exercising. So his efforts are very different from the efforts that I put into a workout now. I am also not the person I want to be. His efforts will be different from what I can do today. I have learned to remind myself of this every time I workout.
- Be careful with sharing. I like to encourage people. Everything I have learned on my journey has helped me get to where I am today and enjoy passing that information along. But sharing my journey can also be the cause of someone else, not seeing my results from their efforts, ending their journey. So I am careful about what I share and who I share with. I am always happy to give encouragement, but will always also encourage anyone to run their own race.
One of the worst feelings in the world is being discouraged becasue I am not getitng the same results as someone else. Every time, it has cause me to give up and not run my own race. Throughout my journey I have read books of ultra marathoners, and studied the workout plans of movie stars that have to bulk up quickly for a movie. I, however, did not start seeing the success that I wanted until I started striving to reach my own goals, running my own race, and applauding my own efforts and my own result.
Corey Stokes 