Life is bound to be chaotic for periods of time in everyone's life. No one can predict when the shit storm is coming. But when it does, it pays to be prepared. Because when it rains, it fucking pours.
Nothing is worse than sitting in the pouring rain, feeling sorry for oneself and blaming the circumstances. That shit is soft.
My friend will call me 'soft serve' when I need a little spike of motivation to stop being a bitch. Just to remind me that the soft bullshit excuses we create in our own minds isn’t helping anyone, especially not ourselves.
DISCLAIMER: My writings are a reflection of what has helped me overcome MY personal hardships. I do not expect anyone to use my practices, I cannot guarantee what works for me will work for you. With that being said, I hope my writings can bring a sliver of value to your life. My ultimate goal is to help, and that is always in the back of my mind when I write.
The “chaos” might last longer and may show up in different ways for everyone. Regardless, it is inevitable and I believe it is extremely important to act calmly and move gracefully under extreme circumstances; almost as if you are actively choosing to not give the pressure as much weight as it objectively carries.
I often hear a lot of high level athletes and entrepreneurs talk about the concept of doing uncomfortable tasks everyday in order to train one's brain for the inevitable chaotic circumstances that will pop up in life.
For example, Kobe Bryant (arguably the most disciplined and mentally tough athlete of all time) would talk about how he would make practice a living hell for himself and his teammates. He would do this to make the games seem easy, and obviously the games are what mattered the most.
By making practice a living hell day in and day out, it provided repetitive feelings of being uncomfortable under pressure. He wanted to push the absolute limits in practice so there was nothing he wasn’t prepared for. There wasn’t a single situation in a game that Kobe didn’t practice 1000 times before. When the game was on the line, Kobe was so confident in his preparation that the big moments didn’t phase him in the slightest.
Before he passed, I remember him in an interview saying that one time his teammates wanted to go out and party after a win. He told his teammates that he’d go out with them if they all went to the gym with him the next morning. So sure enough, Kobe goes out with his teammates and parties. The next morning, Kobe is up bright and early, banging on all the hotel room doors of his teammates waking everyone up. It was time to go to work. In Kobe’s mind, there was no other option. If there was work that needed to be done, Kobe was doing it. No excuses, no fighting it, no feelings involved. Kobe was the epitome of hard work, and his 5 NBA championships back that up.
To tie it back to chaos, the only way to be comfortable in it is to be prepared for it. You need to do hard shit everyday to train your mind for the hard circumstances that WILL breach your life eventually. Everyone struggles, everyone has missteps, everyone has to go through some form of adversity at some point.
The people that actively put themselves through uncomfortable situations day in and day out will be better prepared for the adversity that comes into their life. There is simply no other way to put it.
You will be more in control. You will be more prepared. You will be calm in the chaos.
By making yourself uncomfortable whether it's through cold showers, physical activity, waking up early etc , and staying disciplined in it, you are legitimately training your brain to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. It becomes so automatic that your feelings eventually are thrown out the window (in the best way). You face a problem, you handle it, you move on. Simple as that. There is no dwelling on it, there is no blaming anything, there is just handling it.
It may seem like such a small thing, and to some it may seem silly, but I promise you, when shit goes south, the ones who are prepared for those feelings will handle the chaotic situations gracefully. The ones who discipline themselves with difficult tasks (controlled chaos) will be more comfortable in their ability to perform under pressure.
The ones who make excuses for everything, the ones who are dishonest with themselves, the ones who don't find preparation and work necessary, they will fold under pressure.
Time to go watch the bills (shoutout Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane for creating the disciplined, hard working culture the Bills currently represent. The preparation shows, and that's why they are a top team in the NFL).
Thank you all for reading, I appreciate y’all. Love y’all.
Go Bills
KEEGS