5 Things You Should Give Up Now in Order to Succeed

Do you remember being 8-years-old?

Gosh, 3^rd grade seems like so long ago.

I remember little things:

Like…

• Spending hours in the Limited Too, trying on clothes and assembling ‘perfect outfits’ to look like the Olsen twins.

• Collecting Beanie Babies and my pet Tamagotchi (electronic pet).

• Reading “Babysitter’s Club Books” religiously.

• Dominating Four-Square at recess.

• Friday nights spent at home watching TGIF (“Boy Meets World” and “Saved By The Bell” anyone?) and playing Dream Phone with my best friend, my sister.

• Rocking my lime-green nail polish and Bell Bottom jeans, thinking I was so fly.

• Stressing out over learning my multiplication tables—the 7’s, 8’s, and 9’s got tricky.

…Just to name a few.

This weekend, I was reminded of being 8-years-old…And how formidable and impressionable that age was in developing a positive self-esteem and self-concept.

I had the opportunity to be the ‘Coach in Command’ of the CrossFit Kid’s portion of a local women’s only fitness competition (The Phoenix) this weekend at CrossFit Central in Austin.
Here’s a pic of some of my girls:

Over the course of the morning, I rallied a total of 10 girls through two different short workouts, including:

10-minute AMRAP (As many rounds as possible)

20 Jump ropes

15 Kettlebell swings

10 Box Jumps

5 Push press

And, 5 rounds, for time of:

8 Burpees

8 Ground to Overhead

8 Deadlifts

Some had tried CrossFit before…others had never picked up a barbell in their life.

Yet, it was amazing to witness just how eager and how coachable each one of them was to power through each workout with full-on gusto and not stop once, until the workout was over (seriously, these little balls of energy didn’t ‘need’ rest breaks during the workouts; they were little energizer bunnies!).

One 9-year-old in particular, Natalie, stuck out to me, as I counted her reps for her as her ‘judge’ and coached her through the workouts. Natalie was one of those who had never picked up a barbell in her life.

“Knees out.” “Chest up.” “Drive through your heels.”

As I gave her various cues to get through her workout, she did nothing but listen and look to me for guidance in completing the movements and finishing the workouts as efficiently as possible.

Her eyes seemed to ask: “Am I doing this right?” as she picked her barbell up and down during her deadlifts, and jumped on and off the box for all consecutive 10 reps.

“You’re doing a great job! Keep it up!” I cheered her on.

While her long gangly arms and legs moved a bit more awkwardly than the other more ‘experienced’ little girls, she was as enthusiastic as ever to give it her all—and kept her head focused on the work she had to do at hand, no one else’s.

In order to be successful, she knew, particularly being new at this, she could not do it on her own. And she trusted my coaching and gained power from the encouragement I gave her.

When all was said and done, regardless of the times or ‘place’ everyone finished in, there were high-fives and smiles all around. (Annnd, everyone’s favorite part: Lululemon headbands for participation).

As the kids competition wrapped up, and the little girls went back to running around the gym area, playing on the pull-up rig like monkey bars, and jumping over left over rain puddles—trying not to land in the water, I couldn’t help but think how sometimes…little kids have it all together—or at least more together—than we do as adults sometimes.

Natalie, and all the other little girls for that matter, taught me a pretty profound lesson Saturday morning about success. Actually they taught me 5 important lessons about success…

5 Things You Should Give Up Now in Order to Succeed

Trying to do it on your own. Being ‘new’ at the whole CrossFit thing, Natalie knew she couldn’t ‘do it on her own.’ She trusted my coaching, my cues, my guidance—and looked to me every step of the way through the workouts in order to be successful. In your daily lives, your work, your goals—why are you making it so much harder on yourself, trying to ‘do it on your own’?! There’s strength in numbers—and having support and guidance in the ‘blind spots.’

Trying to please others. The girls could honestly care less what place they finished in. All they wanted to do was participate, have fun, and oh yeah, get their Lululemon prize at the end. Their focus during their workouts remained solely on themselves—the work they could do; and doing the very best they could for themselves, no one else. In your work, your goals, your life endeavors—stop trying to ‘do it for others.’ Or to make everyone else happy. Or to keep the peace. Align your heart and your actions with your values, and at the end of the day, you will be successful in the things you aspire towards.

Caring about what others think about you. To go along with the above point, girls, like Natalie, could also care what others thought about them (‘Do I look dumb not knowing how to do this?’, ‘What if I come last?’ etc.). When you care less about what others think about you, seemingly nothing stands in your way.

Complaining. Zero complaining Saturday morning—about anything! No complaints about the rainy drizzle (puddle jumping, hello?!). No complaints about the ‘heavyish’ weights or ‘being tired.’ No complaints about not winning. Stop complaining! ‘It’s too hard.’’ ‘It’s too much of a commitment.’ ‘I am working my butt off doing XYZ…’ While it may be good to vent about how hard things can be wen trying to build a business, accomplish a health goal, do a stellar job on a project, pull off an event, etc…complaining is such a Debbie Downer, and does not benefit anyone—particularly you.

Making excuses. No excuses. Ever heard this before: ‘I have no time’; Or ‘My life is too busy’? Of course things will come up in life that detour us from achieving a goal—or working towards that—but the most successful people in life (i.e. Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins), are most often those who put their heads down and worked through the ‘tough stuff’—whatever that tough stuff is. My girls did that this weekend through their workouts…and you can do that too with cutting out the extra sugar from your nutrition, or sticking to a healthy exercise plan, or making wiser financial decisions, and on and on. No excuses.