THE GAP

WEEK OF 12/16/24

 

Between your actions, and the results you want to cultivate, there is always a gap.

Sadly, we are conditioned to expect that results and gratification should be nearly instantaneous.  Want a pizza?  Open up your phone, it’s at your door in 45 minutes.  Want a game?  Download it.  Want a couch?  Order it on Amazon Prime, you’ll be chilling on it within 24 hours.

But want real, actual changes in your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing?  They’re never that quick.

Between when you make the actual changes in your behavior – that is, joining a gym, reading more, eating better, and so on – and when you experience the results of those changes, there is what often seems like an impossibly long delay.It’s so easy to throw up our hands and say “I joined the gym!  I’ve quit smoking for a week!  But I’m still fatigued, and I still don’t have the physique that I want!”  It can be frustrating and demoralizing without the right perspective.

And there are few endeavours where this isn’t more true than combat sports.  You can, and you will, feel like you are banging your head against the wall over and over again and getting nowhere for weeks, months, possibly even years.Now, obviously this isn’t actually true (you will make consistent progress, albeit often small gains), but doing the work doesn’t immediately guarantee the results.  Often, it takes time for the system to adapt.  For the training to set in.  For everything to cure.

The ability to ride this time out, having faith that what you want is coming down the pipeline eventually, and continuing to put in the work on a daily basis without a steady stream of gratification are necessary conditions for seeing any real, meaningful results.

There are no shortcuts.  There is no product on Amazon, nor any app on your phone, that can accelerate or replace this process.

There will always be a period between changes in your behavior and receiving the results that that behavior is designed to produce.  That period can often be very long.

Stay the course.

Ultimately, the trick is not to seek the results, but to enjoy the work for its own sake.  Once you accomplish that, your potential becomes limitless.