Gavin had an epic breakout performance today. He’s been busting his butt in the gym with a goal of lifting 1,130 pounds between squat, bench press, & deadlift in order to qualify for the Wisconsin State Powerlifting Championship. Based on his practice he was hoping to have an outside chance of hitting it late in the season.
When he started today his opening weights put him at 975 pounds. Next thing we knew Gavin went full on beast mode on the squat and bench. He was 480 pounds short before the deadlift which he started at 405. On his last lift of the day he lifted the 480 pounds and punched his ticket to State!
This specific picture taken from the video says it all…
All that hard work and practice, the mental toughness, the grit and resilience. All exploded into an epic moment we will never forget!
Congrats on the success, so proud of the work, effort, and grit that made this moment possible for you! Love you Bud!
Life is so much easier when I pause and remember that I do not have the time or capacity needed to tackle all of the crazy ideas and dreams and projects I would like to take on. I will forever have a surplus of goals and plans and a deficit of the time I wish I had to accomplish everything, and that is okay. This makes it all the more important for me to focus on intentionally spending my precious time on those dreams which are of the utmost importance rather than on matters which are not of consequence.
When I am feeling overwhelmed and as if I don’t have enough time I need to remember to pause, review what is truly most important, focus on that in that moment, and be grateful for the opportunity to have that moment of life to use.
Appreciation:
When I wrapped up my day yesterday I had a very clear list of what needed to get done today. I didn’t get it all done, but I didn’t waste any time or energy. My focus was exactly where it needed to be. There were several moments in which my brain started to wander to other things and just as I was about go in a wrong direction I had awareness and went right back to focus mode. The results was an awesomely productive day that I am very pleased with.
As I analyze why it was successful I pinpointed a few notes to save for Future Mike:
Review what is truly important, slice it into what is most important today, and then focus there
Have a very clear list of what needs to get done and in order of how it needs to happen
Maintain awareness of where my mind should be focused and catch myself when it wanders
Give myself grace to take a pause or a break – not unintentionally and time wasting, rather, focused on re-charging my brain
Close the door and turn on the right music when needed
The overwhelming majority of phone calls, emails, and messages can wait until a future time
If the day flew by I am doing it right
Over 25 years of working in the professional world and I’m still reminded of how much there is to learn and how much more discipline there is to build.
Presence:
Lifting today was pretty brutal. I wasn’t even close to lifting the weights I should be lifting. It was all aboard the struggle bus time. By the last reps of the last set of each exercise my muscles were shaking. I didn’t even get to the number of reps I was shooting for in each set. t hurt. It was mentally taxing. My ego got the shit kicked out of it. In so many ways I could look at today’s lifting as a complete failure and disappointment…
…but I experienced and view it as an overwhelming SUCCESS.
This was my first time lifting in about four weeks due to travel and crazy pre-travel schedule. I was going in completely rusty and rather than not showing up or quitting early I chose to finish the workout. I struggled but I pushed. I gave myself the grace to drop the weight in-between sets so I could keep the right form. I didn’t stop until my muscles did. I took the step of re-starting, I took action.
The next round will be similar, but each subsequent session will feel better and better. Today I took the first step. It hurt, but I felt great.
Thankful for Forty 