Make today ashamed of yesterday

I was teaching Jiu Jitsu last week and some of the senior students were “phoning it in.” They were simply going through the motions. It was as if they thought that just showing up was good enough. But, is it?

Yes, showing up is sometimes 90% of the battle. However, showing up without putting in the effort limits your improvement. It does take a certain level of commitment to just show up. But, to what should you really be committed? Should you commit to simply being there, getting through the workout and leaving? Or, should you committed to improving? If you commit to improving in anything you do, showing up is just the first step. The improvement comes in the quality of your work.

Imagine if your attitude was always one of being better today than you were yesterday. Taking it even a step further, what if you wanted to put the work you did yesterday to shame? How much better would you become? Instead of “making it through,” we should focus on making what we did yesterday pale in comparison to what we do today. The mindset of success is about not accepting yesterday’s limitations today and creating a bar for tomorrow that is unattainable. Then, when tomorrow comes, breaking above the bar that was set…and setting one that’s even higher.

If you string a bunch of these days together on a consistent basis, you will reach heights that you never thought were possible. Go out and reach for the impossible every day you are alive.