As a coach and an athlete we all have goals/missions we want to accomplish, whether it be get an athlete to the Olympics or to increase your bench by 20lbs in 6 months. Some of these goals will build onto bigger goals that will build onto lifetime goals. The thing is that you must have a clear and decisive vision and plan to achieve those goals.

In the Marines when we would go out on missions we drilled and dried and drilled until the task or tasks at hand where so ingrained in us that when shit hit the fan it was our basic instinct to go into those drills. Same thing goes when the leaders would draw up the missions, we had to know all the communication frequencies in order to radio each other, medical evacuation, or for a QRF to come and back us up. Along with that we needed to map out all the different scenarios that could occur and all the different routes that could possibly be taken to evade a situation or possible IED’s. These are all small details that needed to be ingrained in us every time we step out of the FAB and into danger. Yeah it would have been nice to just sleep in and relax before going out on the missions especially if its something we’ve already done, but complacency can get you killed and it was that discipline to get up study and do my job to the best of my ability that allowed me to come home safe.

So how does this relate to the real world and to lifting? Simple really to execute any goal no matter how big or small you have to be meticulous with everything and to have a laser focus on the days task at hand. Focusing on the goal is a key component that in this day an age gets lost. To many distractions like social media can halt focus at the gym. I don’t know how many times i’ve had people come up to me to show some stupid ass video or meme that they thought was hilarious all while I am trying to get ready for my next set. I see it when it comes to dieting as well people get consumed with what others are doing and think thats they way to do it, I saw this person post sour patch kids as an intra workout so I’m going to buy the biggest bag I can so I can be like them. 3 months later you are further away than you’ve ever been, you can’t focus on what others are doing, there goals, DNA, and philosophy can be completely different from what is best for you.

YOU is a huge concept to executing the mission. You have to take responsibility for your goals, your actions, and if they get accomplished or not. You can’t seek out validation from others to accomplish your goals and to chase after your dreams. In the Marines I am surrounded by a team with one vision and one goal and that was key to our success and will be the same for yours. Don’t do it for others but surround yourself with people who actually care about you and want to see you succeed and push you to succeed. Like I said these are your goals but to have others who share the same commonalities around you is a huge help. Once you have your goals, a solid likeminded team around you, the next step in executing the mission is to practice, practice, practice or in other words be consistent in your actions. That means consistency with the gym and the effort you put into it, consistent with sleep 8 hours or more plus naps when you can, and to be consistent with food and food prep. This is the day in and day out practice that we had to endure to make sure the mission was a success and so do you in order to achieve your physical goals this is a must. You can’t be 100% one week and 50% the next and expect to go places and do great things. it needs to be 95% or better each and every day with a focus that is unrelenting. 

You will have a lot of ups and downs along this path and thats why it has to come from within you to succeed because the days you don’t want to wake up are the days that will determine your success. You can sleep in even though you told yourself you were getting up at 5 or you can wake up and face the days challenges with enthusiasm and a drive to get better. It has to come from within no external reward will make you keep pushing, will make you face adversity and drive through it. Walls are put up in your life not so you can go around it or so you can turn back around, but rather it is an opportunity to see how bad you want it and to push through.