What is Worthwhile Requires Effort - Just Make Sure It's Worth It
For those of you who are watching 'The Noble Alpha' unfold, thank you for your patience with this post.
I have a confession - I've written several drafts of posts since my last one on a multitude of topics, and they all sounded hollow and a tad pointless. The purpose of this blog was to share my journey to reach my peak, with the hope that my lessons learned will be useful to others and ( hopefully ) inspire those who are on their own journey. It didn't make sense to post what I felt was empty nonsense. As I was going through the process, the word 'effort' kept popping up - and it served as an opportunity to not only consider ( and in some cases reconsider ) what is important to me but also to consider the level of effort involved to reach that goal or complete that task.
Is it Worth it?
Taking the extra time also allowed me the chance to ask a question I hadn't really considered up until that moment - is the goal worth the effort that will be involved? Typically when we think about something we want to achieve, we primarily focus on the time and 'sweat equity' that will have to be invested. Those are fair points, but as I peeled back some of the layers I thought of one key element that I hadn't considered - my family. Specifically, time away from them. Were my goals, whatever they might be, worth the time that I would have to spend away from the two most important people in my life?
Some were easy. For example, one of my goals is to earn a black belt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu ( GJJ ). Training GJJ allows me a way to not only continue to improve my overall wellbeing ( physical as well as mental ), but it provides a touchstone of sorts for the things I do off the mat :
Should I eat that second serving of <whatever>?
Should I spend a few extra minutes before my workout to warm-up, and then a few minutes at the end of cooldown and stretch a bit?
Should I put ‘the day’ away a bit earlier than normal so I can allow my body and mind to prepare for a quality night of sleep?
Others, perhaps not so much. This may sound a bit ridiculous, but I've always had an interest in classic car racing. I've got a 1970s era Italian convertible that I'm very slowly restoring, and I began to research what would be involved to get it ready for local amateur races. Between the fees, constant restoration/upgrade/repair costs and time involved, as well as the time to prepare myself to drive a race car effectively - it just wasn't worth it. I also know my wife well enough to know that while she would never try to stop me from driving a race car, I know she would be worry herself sick constantly. It just wasn't worth it.
Constantly Review Your Goals and Milestones - ALL OF THEM
My point is simply this : go after your goals, if they're important to you. Go after them with a relentless, almost maniacal focus and don't stop until you've achieved or crushed them.
I would also strongly suggest that you break each goal down into smaller goals that are achievable as well as can act as milestones; this allows you to chart your progress, as well as evaluate your path in case changes need to be made. By creating these milestones, you can clearly see what is involved to hit that goal as well as start to get an idea of the resources required - whether its time, money or whatever. There should also be a constant review of these steps, to ensure you're still on the correct path.
Once you've created the steps and have done the research to know what will be involved to reach each milestone, you can make the most informed decision possible about whether or not pursuing the goal is worth what's involved. This can be very difficult, because you may have to take that goal and move it down the list or even off the list - the good news is, by doing so you can focus on one of your other goals. Perhaps once you reach that other goal, you can come back to the one you've reprioritized.
To use the GJJ example again, I know that to be able to meet my goal of a black belt in GJJ, I'm invested for a minimum of 8-10 years. That's 8-10 years of 3-4 days a week on the mats training, learning, making mistakes, etc. Thankfully, one of my newer goals is to continue training GJJ as long as my health allows.
Pursue your goals, Noble Alpha. Just make sure the investment(s) will pay off the way you expect…