Do The Reps

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(Hey - if you’re not into Crossfit, don’t turn away when you start reading! Just a quick reference before getting to the point!)

So, today at Crossfit, our WOD - Workout of the Day - was all about “cleans” - Hang Cleans, Power Cleans and Squat Cleans.

If you don’t know what a “clean” is, here’s the general idea:

During each round, we’d do as many reps as possible (aka: AMRAP) - for one minute, then 90 seconds, then 2 minutes. Just when you thought you didn’t have another one in you, the trainer would yell, “Keep going. Come on, one more!”

And, somehow you could do one more rep!

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(Photo from Crossfit Cadre)

I was reading Start again last night, and author Jon Acuff was talking about how to “master” something. The struggle with “being” a master of something and “becoming" a master is a catch 22 - you can’t BE a good friend if you don”t work on BECOMING a good friend. You can’t BE an expert in your profession without BECOMING an expert by learning, trying, failing, and trying again.

Ultimately, you have to “do the reps":

That’s how you reach awesome.

You do reps.

How do you become a master?

You do reps.

"If you want to get better at something, you have to do the reps. That’s true for almost every part of life."

I could do a few reps of squat cleans, but that’s not going to make me stronger. I have to continue to do the reps. Do the reps. Do the reps. If I expect to improve, I have to do the reps.

Sometimes the reps (whatever a “rep” might be for you) may lead to an awesome experience right then - you may hit your personal record; you may hit a home run; you may close that big deal; you may see that result in your kid’s schoolwork. But, more often than not, you’ll just be doing the reps. But, unless you do the reps, you’ll never reach those moments of AWESOME! You’ll just float along or maybe get lucky every once in a while.

I’ll close with another quote from Start:

"We often think talent is the key to awesome. But if you pull the curtain back on most of the people we call "geniuses," what you find is an incredible amount of hard work."

What is it for you? What’s your rep?

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