Sunday Story…Behold the Turtle

Sunday Story…Behold the Turtle

He only gets ahead when he sticks his neck out!

This is a simple idea. If I don’t get my head out of my shell, I can’t move at all. We can try to ignore the world around us by ducking down and covering up but that doesn’t change what is happening in the world. Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. Wishing something doesn’t make it so.

You need to look around, assess the issue and do something…sometimes doing anything. Doing nothing gets you exactly that…nothing. At least when you try, you learn something. Keeping your head tucked in only allows you the illusion that nothing is happening. Things are happening all the time. Time is passing, things are growing and dying, ideas are being promulgated, new stuff arises and old stuff falls by the wayside. In the meantime you are stuck in your shell.

Get out! Stick your neck out! Do something. Stand for something. Be a part of the greater community and be the change you want to see in the world. The world will turn one way or the other; you may as well be part of the process of creating the world you are living in!

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blgspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Serving

Your highest self. What does it look like when you are serving your highest self? For me it is simple…I am fulfilling my purpose here on earth.

Each of us is here for a purpose. Your purpose is yours. Mine is mine, his is his, and hers is hers. Your first job is to discover your purpose. Everything else follows after that and falls in line.

Your purpose should light you up. When you get out of bed in the morning you are excited about living into your purpose. When you hit the door you know you are on the right path. Your heart is full, your spirit is afire, and your being is vibrating as you get out in the world to do the work you were designed to do.

Your job may or may not be your purpose. Your job may be the means to the end…the end being a purpose filled, a purpose driven life.

What lights you up? What keeps you up at night excited and alert? What gets you springing out of bed in the morning before the alarm clock can go off? What make your heart smile and you spirit soar? This is your purpose.

Go find it. Then go do it. Lather rinse and repeat.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Tough times

These last few weeks we’ve been exploring mental toughness, mainly how to be more mentally tough. What we haven’t touched on is the why. Why is mental toughness important? Why is it even a thing? Why not just go about your business any way you can?

The answer is simple. Life is going to throw some stuff at you. Some of that stuff is going to suck. Some of it is going to really suck and some of it is going to be truly awful. If your habit is to fold up your tent, quit and go home then when that awful stuff life throws your way guess what you’re going to do? Yep, you are going to do what is habitual and easy.

Understanding what it takes to be mentally tough isn’t enough. It isn’t an intellectual exercise. It is an exercise based in real life. I want to be ready for the next curve ball life throws at me because it’s coming. As sure as I am writing this today, it is coming. Will I fold, wilt like a delicate flower, melt like a snowflake? Will you?

Mentally tough people don’t fold, wilt, melt or quit. They look at the challenge, talk the tough talk to themselves, make a plan, change the plan and met the unknown and unknowable head on. Because they have practiced and tried and failed at smaller less important things (honestly, your “Fran” time is pretty inconsequential on the big picture) they are ready to face the fan when the proverbial stuff hits it.

Tough times don’t last. Tough people do…Robert H. Schuller

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Practice

Toughness.

Being mentally tough is a habit. It just doesn’t happen by chance. You must practice every chance you get. Sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes for 20 or 40 minutes but you practice. Make a plan, have a backup, stay in the present moment, and put your head down until it’s over no matter what your mind tells you.

You can always do more than you think you can. Your mind will want to quit long before your body will fail. Fall down, get up. Breathe and go. Whatever your mantra is, say it over and over. Look for the finish line and get over it.

Don’t wait to practice until the game is on the line. Practice every day. Play a game in your mind…like you did when you were a kid…OK, this is for the world championship, the final game, the score is tied, it’s all up to you. There it is…dig down and find another gear, negotiate for more strength and get after it!

Mental toughness is a skill and a habit. It doesn’t just happen. It happens because you make it happen. Because you decide today is the day you are tougher than you think you are.

Make today the day.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412