Brandon's getting old

I sat across the changing room from Brandon after a mega workout. We were pretty buggered and both of us were staring through the carpet into never-never land. Brandon then woke me from this subconscious place “This stuff definitely gets harder as you get older, when I was young I could go on forever but now because of my age everything is just harder”. ”What do you mean?” I asked, “Things get slower, recovery  takes longer and it’s more challenging to stay motivated”. ”Oh”,  I half heartily replied. The thing is, I was only 19 when this conversation took place and Brandon was only 26. I remember thinking to myself that there is no way when I get to 26 I’m going to use age as an excuse. I can proudly say now that my fittest years happened after 26 and that I’m fitter at 33 than what I was at 19. But that’s not really the point. The point is that Brandon was starting to believe his excuses and that this belief was restricting his growth. At this young age he had already determined that he was ‘old’ and that he could never be what he was in the past due to this age restriction he had created for himself.

What excuses do you use that restrict your growth? There are all types of excuses that we use; it can be age, work, family demands, injuries and so on. The classic way to contradict this excuse is to point out someone who could use the same excuse, but to even higher levels than you, but who is overcoming it to be successful. For example, if you feel you are getting old I could point out that Garth Barfoot from Auckland still competes in Ironman triathlons and he is in his eighties; or perhaps if it’s injury I could point to any paraolympian and show you someone who has overcome physical restrictions to go on and achieve growth. But that’s about someone else, it’s not you.

If you can start to identify the excuses that you have instilled in yourself you will be able to see how they restrict you. Once you have created awareness around this you can make steps to remove the excuse and move towards growth. So over the next period of time when something challenging comes up and you are aware of the excuses that pop up in your head then ask yourself how you can overcome this and still achieve growth? You’ll be surprised with how your mind will help you figure this out and you’ll move forward.

When I teach classes I sometimes say ‘if you believe your excuses you’ll become an excuse’. Try to be the person who stands out because they don’t believe the excuses that so many put on themselves. Be the person who leads the way to those around them by being different.