Push Yourself

A coach told me something once that stayed with me: in order to be great, you have to push yourself every day. If not multiple times a day.

I heard it again from a workout trainer I used to box with down in Miami. Same message, different voice. You have to push yourself every day.

That’s really hard. Because pushing yourself means doing something difficult on purpose all the time. Getting out of your comfort zone, not once, but repeatedly. As a basketball player, it meant pushing past the point of exhaustion. Finding a way to play hard all the time, lift weights hard all the time, work out hard all the time. Not just on the days you felt good, but especially on the days you didn’t.

Most people frame it as fear of the competition that’s out there. Someone out there is better than you, so you need to work harder. And that’s true. But I look at it differently. Pushing yourself isn’t about chasing someone else. It’s about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. When you push yourself consistently, you get used to that feeling. The resistance, the fatigue, the voice in your head telling you to stop. It doesn’t go away, but you learn to keep going despite it.

The easiest way to apply this to everyday life is exercise. Get out and run. Get your heart rate up. Do a vigorous workout. Something that makes your body and your brain work harder than they want to. Because when you do that regularly, it helps with everything else. It gets you used to doing hard things. And life is full of hard things.

But pushing yourself isn’t always physical. Sometimes it’s mental. Sometimes pushing yourself means resting when you know you need to rest, even when your instinct is to get up and keep going. Sometimes it’s putting more into your family, your job, your hobbies, your personal growth. Sometimes it’s having a conversation you’ve been avoiding, or starting something you’ve been putting off. There are so many different ways to push yourself beyond what’s comfortable.

Now, let me be honest. I could do better.

I could do more of practicing what I preach. Finding the time to not only work out but to actually push myself during that workout is not easy. It’s one thing to go through the motions. It’s another thing to challenge yourself while you’re in it. When I was in the NBA, that was a daily expectation. Every day I tried to push myself. Now, in this chapter of my life, it takes more discipline because nobody is making me do it. It’s on me.

And that’s the reality for most people. Nobody is standing over you with a whistle telling you to go harder, unless you have a trainer or a workout buddy. You have to be your own coach. You have to tell that little voice on your shoulder to shut up when it says you’ve done enough. You have to choose discomfort when comfort is right there waiting for you.

So here’s my challenge. Push yourself today. Start a workout. Go for a walk that’s longer than usual. Do something that isn’t easy, even if it’s small. Get your body moving and your mind will follow. Because your brain is going to tell you to stop. It’s going to give you every reason to quit. Don’t listen. Keep going.

The more you push, the more you can handle. And the more you can handle, the more you can accomplish.

Push yourself today!