I was on the phone yesterday with my sister and during our chat, she shared one of her beliefs: that we (as humans) can achieve whatever we set our mind to — that we were “limitless.” It’s a growth mind set, one that I myself subscribe to.
Generally speaking, I agree with the spirit of her message and, at the risk of sounding like I missed the mark, I’ll add my own perspective: though each of us are born with our own set of unique limits and constraints, I believe that we operate far below our human potential.
My opinion reminds me of an excerpt from a book I’m reading, a book on developing self confidence. The author shared one Navy Seal’s (who I later learned was David Goggins) position:
He would say that when your mind is telling you you’re done, you’re really only 40 percent done. And he had a motto: If it doesn’t suck we don’t do it. And that was his way of forcing us to get uncomfortable to figure out what our baseline was and what our comfort level was and just turning it upside-down
In other words, when we feel like throwing in the towel, we probably have a lot more to give.
Recently, I started training with Mavinga on leveling up my house dance. And unlike other 1:1 privates that I’ve done, she starts off our lessons with (what I consider) fairly vigorous exercises and she programs them into intervals. At the tail end of some rounds, I find myself completely gassed out, the look on my face conveying that I’m reading to throw in the towel. Practically every time she sees my facial expression melt into despair, she shouts in her French accent: “Allez Allez — let’s go let’s go. It’s in your mind.”
When I hear those words, I get a burst of motivation and push and somehow always end up coming out the other side. With the above Navy Seal’s “40% rule” in mind, I wonder if — during the moments of despair — if I am operating at even a lower percentage, like 20 or 30%!
Of course there’s a fine line to walk. I do not want to push myself to the point of physical injury. However, I feel fairly confident and safe to push myself when I’m feeling muscle fatigued or out of breathe.