Fatigue makes cowards of us all

Are you ready for the second half? Are you prepared for the fourth quarter?

Vince Lombardi

The legendary football coach, the coach for which the Super Bowl trophy is named, is credited with many famous quotes and sayings.

Winners never quit and quitters never win.

Vince Lombardi

The harder you work the harder it is to surrender.

Vince Lombardi

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Vince Lombardi

I have admired his tough, gritting persona and all his “hard work” quotes for years. But the one that I comes to mind often, the one that I ponder and dwell on all the time is this one:

Fatigue makes cowards of us all.

Vince Lombardi

What does that mean?

As I have studied and learned through my own life, I am reminded that when I get tired

Phyiscially

Spiritually

Emotionally

Socially

Mentally

I loose momentum and loose heart. I don’t want to do the things that I should. The things that I KNOW are good for me.

Working out/stretching

Reading the studying the Bible

Deep breathing/meditation

Gathering with friends

Reading for self development

All these things, I KNOW, I KNOW are good for me but I don’t want to do them. Why? When I get tired, or as Coach Lombardi would say, fatigued, I become a coward. I shrink away from the good things and instead revert to the easy things.

How to fix it

  1. Know that this phenomenon exists and plan accordingly. When you recognize that you are being a coward, rather than it being a sub-conscience thought, you are less likely to listen to that loser-voice.
  2. Determine, over the course of a month, to knowingly and intentionally push though the tiredness to complete one action daily that you “don’t want to”. This will strengthen your resolve and delay fatigue.
  3. Master the mundane. Recognize this terrible, awful truth. Those who long for success must embrace that everyone who accomplishes anything does it when they are tired, sick, depressed, injured etc….All successful people do the things they don’t want to. They set out to master the mundane. Get really good at doing the boring things over and over and over again.

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