Nobody really cares until its extreme.

What do I mean by that?

You walk into WaWa and see someone from high school. You haven’t seen them in years. They look good. Judging from the Facebook posts you see, they are doing seemingly well. You’re doing well yourself, at least you think?

Them: “Whats new!? How have you been? You look great!”

You: “Good! I started running actually, in fact, 3 times a week!”

Them: “That’s nice, I run sometimes too.”

Conversation drifts from there. Not bad. But rather anti-climatic.

Do you know what would have been even better?

Them: “Whats new!? How have you been? You look great!”

You: “Great, well I’m actually training for a marathon!”

Them: “No way! That’s awesome! What made you want to do that? That’s so cool”

See the difference?

Be extreme. Being extreme forces extreme accountability. Marathon runners have a marathon mentality. They are on top of their training. People who run a few times a week don’t mind missing a day, but marathon runners know they cannot miss a day.

In a way, being extreme is easier. You know you cannot afford any mishaps. The marathon mentality can be used for many things.

For example, dieting. People who do a Keto diet simply know they cannot eat carbs. They cut all forms of carbs from their diet(minus green veggies etc). They are less tempted to cheat because most tempting foods are carb based. Eliminating an entire macro-nutriment is extreme but easy to follow once accepted. It works the same for plant-based/vegans. If the food is not vegan they do not eat it. Easy.

Another example is in addiction. Most people who suffer with addiction are most successful when going completely sober. Not just eliminating one vice/drug, but all of them. Its extreme but easier than picking and choosing.

What are you currently working on? What would happen if you made it extreme? Would you burn out? Well, maybe its not worth doing then… most things worth doing are worth overdoing.

Join that race. Enter that contest. Challenge the best. Be extreme.

-gunn

01/16/2018