Muhammad Ali chose sweat and opted to “suffer now” to live the rest of his life a champion. If you strategically and relentlessly punch yourself in the dark like Ali did, you may find yourself indestructible in the light – or when your ability to withstand hardships really matters. On the Surface examples of this idea include studying for a test and practicing for a sport. The more one disciplines him/herself studying, the less (s)he will falter on the actual test … and the more one pushes him/herself in a basketball practice, the better (s)he will play in the game. But there’s a deeper, more powerful meaning to this quote. Pushing your limits at whatever activity you do builds the mental strength and character to withstand any activity or event; it doesn’t have to relate to the practice at all. Like for me, disciplining myself studying in school built me to withstand my health issues down the road. It made me develop an unbreakable mindset to the particularly adversity I went and am going through. People must see value in discipline and suffering not just to achieve the goal directly in front of them, but more importantly – to cultivate resilience. The more someone struggles in the present moment, the less they will break down in every other moment. It’s even possible to transform your blood into sweat during battle with a mindset shift, as Viktor Frankl executed during The Holocaust. Ponder that.
Viktor Frankl (pg. 78 in Man’s Search for Meaning) – “Once the meaning of suffering had been revealed to us, we refused to minimize or alleviate the camp’s tortures by ignoring them or harboring false illusions and entertaining artificial optimism. Suffering had become a task on which we did not want to turn our backs. We had realized its hidden opportunities for achievement, the opportunities which caused the poet Rilke to write, ‘Wie vie list aufzuleiden!’ (How much suffering there is to get through!). Rilke spoke of ‘getting through suffering’ as others would talk of ‘getting through work.’ “
The below may be the most powerful interview I’ve ever seen:
David Goggins (36:24) – “If you can get through to doing things that you hate to do, on the other side is greatness. That’s what people don’t understand. By me running I am callusing my mind – I’m not training for a race. I’m training for life. I’m training for the time when I get that 2:00 in the morning call that my mom is dead or something happens tragic in life, I don’t fall apart. I’m training my mind and my body, my spirit so it’s all one so I can handle what life is gonna’ throw at me … “
– MB Inspired