“The minute I start accepting mediocrity is the minute I just beat myself. Being mediocre smacks of average. Being average smacks of being like everyone else. Being like everyone else smacks of boredom. I don’t want to be boring or like everyone else. Therefore I will choose to do something that few will do. Lift weights. And when I lift, I will choose to do something that few will do. Train hard like a bodybuilder. And when I train hard like a bodybuilder, I will choose to do something that few will do. Compete. And when I compete, I will choose to do something that few will do. Train to win. And when I train to win, I will choose to do something that few will do. Be perfect every day.” David “Dr. Buff” Patterson
With 4 weeks to go until the Emerald Cup, whatever it is that you’re doing that’s not task-oriented, STOP! If you’re drinking, STOP. If you’re eating out and the foods are not on your plan, STOP! If you’re staying up late when you know you have to get up early the next morning to do cardio, STOP! If you’re out partying on the weekends, STOP! If you’re skipping or reducing cardio, STOP! If you’re not pushing to your best potential on the weights, STOP! If you’re making excuses of why you can’t do this or that, STOP! If you’re grumbling and moaning because “This is hard”, STOP! Why? BECAUSE YOU CHOSE THIS! Why would you give anything other than your best?
I’ve heard more excuses in my life than you can imagine. Y’know what? The word EXCUSES has 7 letters in it. So does the word EXECUTE. One will get you where you want to be. The other will simply keep you where you are. Are you an ‘excuses’ person or an ‘execute’ person?
Fred Astaire once said to Ginger Rogers when she asked why they had to practice so much, “You have to work really, really hard to make it look easy.” Geno Auriemma said to the media after yesterday’s Championship game win, “People say we make it look easy. My answer to that is, it looks easy because we practice so hard.” I’ve been asked so many times, “How do you make it look so easy (meaning my posing routines)?” My answer is always the same. “I practice to the point where no matter where the song starts, I instantly know where I’m at and can pick it up and finish. I practice to where no matter what song is played, I can pose my routine to that song ON TEMPO. I practice to the point of perfection. That’s how I make it look easy.” And that’s how you have to be, whether you’re doing Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure, Physique, or Bikini. Practice YOUR posing/presentations to the point of perfection.
Recently I read a Facebook post by a ‘Coach’ who said something along the lines of, “If I hear or read one more idiotic comment on how we all have the same 24 hours in a day, I’ll scream! Some of our lives are harder than others, and we don’t have the time to fit everything in, and to say that we can do everything in that 24 hour period is asinine.” And the number of ‘friends’ who agreed with him made me pull out what little hair I had left. As Ricky Ricardo said to Lucy so many times, “Lemme ‘splain sonthin to you, Lucy…”
WE DO all have the same 24 hours in a day. No one has a second more or a second less. Get over it. Quit complaining about it. It comes down to this. We FIND time and MAKE time for what’s most important to us at any given point in time. If your day is filled with school, work, kids, hubby/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, friends and socialization to where you find it hard to fit competition training into YOUR 24 hours then BAG THE SHOW! No one is making you do this. But like the high school, collegiate, and professional athletes out there, if you CHOOSE to do this, then do it to the best of your ability, because I promise your competition is.
For those of you struggling with your cardio, nutrition, or even training, do me a favor. Get out of your own way. Stop over-processing and over-analyzing this. Quit looking at the long term and just focus on today. Quit talking about “I can’t wait for the show to end so I can eat this and that” and posting pics of food. This is a grind. And that’s what you have to do each day for the next 4 weeks…rise-n-grind. And each day you have only one thing to worry about. Perfection. Be Perfect Today.
UPDATE: Shortly after writing this blog I designed a couple of “BE PERFECT TODAY” sayings – one with graphics and one with just the words, along with “AVERAGE SUCKS”, “BEAT AVERAGE”, and “MEDIOCRITY – What Is That?”. You can grab yours on my clothing line website at www.buffedwear.com.
Doc
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