The holidays let me have a breather by slowing life down. It almost makes me yearn for a life where there isn’t much going on. I always think of the movie “Hot Fuzz” where Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are cops, and they get off work and literally don’t have anything to do. Their primary options are to go to the pub or go home alone and do nothing. What a life! To never have a care or a worry beyond the 9 to 5.

But that’s not what makes success.

“Great” isn’t a 9 to 5 gig. Trying to achieve your potential in life is a round-the-clock deal. The easy part is when you’re clocked in for work or class; the other hours of the day are where you acquire, develop, and perfect your ideas, knowledge, and skills.

Not having anything to do at the end of the day is coasting. It means you either don’t have something you’re working towards, or whatever it is you think you’re working for isn’t terribly important to you. Do something about it.

You can think of this in terms of training: when you leave the barbell, your real work begins. Your sleep, your consistent, quality food intake, and your mobility work will lead you to be strong, capable, and jacked.

But, I don’t want you to be limited in just worrying about training; it’s an important part of life, but if you don’t implement the lessons from under the bar, it’s all for naught.

If you’re someone who has a clear goal with an end state, do you have a consistent and quality attack plan to achieve it? When you get home from work, are you studying, practicing, organizing, or developing? You don’t need to stay up late and burn the midnight oil, but you should actively work to improve in your spare time.
Caption for pic: But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?

Do you have that 9 to 5, yet you pretty much chill out when you clock out? Then you’re under performing. You will never be in a steady state of accomplishment. “Achievement” is a moment in time, not a constant. People think success is a thing, but instead it’s a process. If you want to get strong, you must squat multiple times a week for a long time. If you want to do great things in life, you work on it every day. Do not settle for the minimum; the great never do.

Do you not have anything to pour your spirit into? It’s about time to figure it out. What do you want to have? What do you want to be? What do you want to do? Our society spends so much time observing other people doing great or fascinating things. Instead, decide to be one of those people instead of watching them. Go out and DO. Figure it out, make a plan, and start taking steps each day to achieve it.

Look, if life is easy, you’re doing it wrong. Test your mettle by putting yourself in positions that require consistent, hard work. Go beyond the realm of normalcy and possibility. Don’t stay locked into your specific job or social circle. Go, learn, do, and think.

Think big. Be big. Be 70’s Big.