Put Your Game Face On

I talk a lot about the building blocks of strength in this blog. The message, at the end of the day is repetitive, but it translates over into SO many different aspects of our daily lives, so I make a point to highlight these issues in my writing. Strength is needed in every action and decision. Only the strong survive.

In my profession, I am defined as a coach. This goes beyond my clientele at work, and goes beyond the team I coach. Coaching means leading by example, in all areas of life. Everyone is a coach at something. If you are a parent, you are the truest form of a coach; you choose your words and actions wisely. You are a coach with all that you do; teachers, business men/women, athletes, hairdressers, doctors, etc. Someone looks up to you for what YOU do, what you have, the values you possess and how successful you are at what you do.

A major component of leading by example is developing toughness. I don't think anyone can truly achieve success without developing mental, physical and emotional strength. Toughness is achieved by pushing through adversity; it's overcoming and undergoing mental, physical and emotional challenges. It's about being able to see the big picture the entire time, even when it's clouded with pain.

Toughness is often developed in sports and athletics in general. I see it every day with the girls I coach. There will be days where their bodies are in pain, and they make continuous mistakes and get embarrassed and reprimanded for these mistakes. Yet, they have the courage and drive to keep coming back, push through, and work toward their moment to shine, a moment of pure success that makes all the pain and emotional stress worth it. At a more relatable level, I work in a corporate environment. I see employees that will often times hate their job, their boss, or whatever, yet they show up every day because it pays the bills, because it's the right thing to do, because it will lead to better things, because they hold themselves accountable and because they might be really good at it!

Hard work always pays off; hard work develops toughness. Toughness leads to success and makes you better at who you are and what you do. So, in all that you do, toughen up. Push harder during your workout, learn to make the right choices, even when people think you are crazy, stay strong for your kids and those who admire you, and hold your head high when you are criticized. Push harder for the people you consider to be the coaches in your life. Push for the people who admire what you do. Toughen up because your work ethic is something no one should ever be able to question, even when you are at a weak point. One of the greatest benefits of developing toughness is being able to recognize within yourself when enough is enough. You learn when it may be time to tell your body, your boss, or whoever, that you need a break, or you need to move on. In the end, a tough, courageous spirit and disposition will lead to better things and will make you a better individual.
"How we manage our pain is up to us. Pain. We anesthetize, ride it out, embrace it, ignore it, and for some of us the best way to manage pain is to just push through it."- GREY'S ANATOMY