Ask any parent what they want for their kid and the answer is synonymous at the end of the day, “I want my kid to be happy.” Luckily, that is actually the best thing a parent can do for their maturing athlete (but there’s a catch to this). Here at MAP, the base of our performance pyramid is happiness. How we go about creating that looks different for every individual we work with, but at the end of the day the two principles remain the same, we need 1- hard work and 2- consistency to live our happiest lives. Happiness from external resources is temporary. We care more about happiness that can’t be taken away.
Wait a minute, I thought the answer is just to train more or train smarter and my son or daughter will become a better athlete? They will as those are requirements (the 3rd part of our pyramid) for developing into their highest potential. But to truly accomplish everything they are capable of, their base level of happiness has to be in check first. Without this base in the pyramid, the peak has no choice but to shrink. How we create that happiness rests solely on the athlete and their ability to believe in his/her self. That is awesome if they go on to be a professional athlete, but what if they could take the lessons they learned through the weight room to go even further in life; community leaders, doctors, lawyers, business owners, etc. If they have achieved the ability to trust and believe in their ability to do something, they will inevitably do it.
Hard work leads to more. Hard work is the entry point to happiness. Consuming hours on hours of social media (depleting our ability to use dopamine to his/her advantage), eating junk 24/7, going to bed at 3am, breaking promises made to self are all things you see the people who inspire us NOT doing. Watch what happens when you choose the harder option in the current moment (cleaning up the house instead of sitting on your phone, cooking a meal instead of eating mcdonalds, setting a bedtime and sticking to it). As we choose the harder part in the moment, our life gets easier in the future. Is it uncomfortable at first? 100%. Does it make life more comfortable later on? 100%. We get a dopamine and serotonin spike (our happy chemicals) when we do something hard such as training. Working out can give you some of that response, but training the way we do here with PRs every single day, that changes everything. You are constantly required to try a little harder and break that mental barrier each and every session. Every time you overcome something you thought wasn’t possible, happiness goes through the roof. Choose hard.
Consistency is like the bedroom door while hard work is more equivalent to the front door. Hard work gets you into the house, but it doesn’t get you to your resting place. Only when hard work is met with consistency do we start to truly believe in ourselves. Consistency is what allows us to finally start seeing what the hard work does. As we support and encourage our kids to pick the harder option each time (which oftentimes can be much easier for them when we focus hard on setting the example in the household) we start to see their lives become even more enriched. When consistency in regards to doing hard things is high, they get to reap the reward more often (increased level of happiness). The reward isn’t necessarily what they get when they get to the end goal, instead the reward is in the day to day from choosing hard. ······ ······ Get Started Today
