You have Come to Far to Give up
Ever been on a run or a bike ride...something that takes endurance? If so then you know what it feels like to be in the final few miles of the course feeling the deep-rooted desire to stop. You start feeding yourself all of these lies
I don't want to overtrain
I came further than ever before
I don't want to injure myself
Your brain is no longer your friend, it becomes your ultimate rival. Not the next uphill, not the beating heat from the sun, not the wind that blows in your face. Your mind 🧠.
It says that you should give up and you should be done. We all have defeated this in some way shape or form. It feels incredible.
More Likely though...
We have all lost to this side of ourselves. We have failed this side of ourselves more often than we have won.
Why is that?
The simple answer is that it is because it is so much easier to take the easy route than it is to take the hard route. The hard route? Well, that can be treacherous, that can be unknown, that can be difficult. Humans don't like that.
I recently heard something that has probably been around for years, but it was new to me, It was this quote
"A calm sea never made a skilled sailor"
That hit home for me, it is such a simple truth. Yet, no one ever wants the treacherous path. Everyone would prefer the easy path. You don't gain anything from the easy path.
There is a name for this...limbic friction.
Dr. Andrew Huberman of Stanford has coined a new phrase, Limbic Friction, which in simple terms, is the gap between wanting to do something, and actually doing that thing. It is the level of energy required to engage in and form a habit.We need to pursue something EVERY SINGLE DAY because when we do this, we train ourselves.
Think about these habits you follow...
Making coffee
Driving yourself to work
Following a bedtime routine
All of these have started to become second nature because you have trained yourself through these steps. You have walked your brain through it 1,000 times.
It is the same when you are pursuing something new, your brain is against you running that EXTRA mile or against you building that business. Or starting that Etsy store. It is all new and scary.
Yet the good news? If we go through the routine, and do it with:
Consistent Discipline
Positivity
Then it will become something rewarding, and the limbic friction will lower over the years.
You have spent too many long hours and long days working on that thing you have worked on. You have spent too many years thinking through every detail.
You owe it to yourself to conquer your own brain.
Time to get after it. Time to get up after being knocked down, whether that was yesterday, last week, or last year. It is time to prove to yourself that YOU are worth fighting for.