Dig Deep, Do Something Hard
I was at the gym recently, nearing the end of a particularly challenging exercise. With about 30 seconds left, the coach called out, “Dig deep and take it up to the next level.”
Given that I was in my last set of battle rope shoulder exercises, digging deep was about the last thing I wanted to do. My shoulders were on fire, or at least that is what they felt like. In fact, just the evening before, I had taken Tylenol for those same aching muscles. But I knew what he meant.
In that moment, digging deep meant standing a little taller, tightening my core with a big exhale as I raised my arms, and concentrating on my focal point instead of thinking about how tired I was. It meant finding just a little bit more when I thought I had already given everything I had.
This experience got me thinking about how often we need to do the same thing outside of the gym.
At work, perhaps you are comfortably meeting your monthly goal to close the books by the 15th business day, and you have been doing that consistently for quite some time. That is certainly something to celebrate. But what would happen if you challenged yourself and your team to close by the 13th business day? Every accountant knows that a day you are not spending closing the books is a day you can spend doing something more valuable, analyzing, planning, and helping the business look ahead. Suddenly, you would have to dig deep.
You might need to identify new areas of efficiency in your process, eliminate a few unnecessary steps, improve communication among your team, and perhaps make decisions a little more quickly. Most importantly, you would have to hold yourself accountable to the new goal.
The same idea applies in our personal lives.
Maybe you comfortably run two days a week. You know that adding a third day would improve your fitness or at least make you feel less guilty about the bacon cheeseburger, but fitting it into your routine means changing a schedule that already feels comfortable.
Digging deep might mean deciding the night before that tomorrow is a running day. Lay out your clothes, set the alarm, make the commitment, and do not allow the usual excuses to change your mind in the morning.
None of these examples involves a dramatic life change, which is the point.
Digging deep often means asking a little more of ourselves than we have been willing to give. It means resisting the temptation to remain comfortable simply because what we are currently doing is working.
I am a firm believer in the value of continuing to get better throughout our lives. Challenging our brains, our bodies, and our routines keeps us engaged and curious. It reminds us that there is almost always another level available to us.
You do not have to completely reinvent yourself.
Sometimes you just need to find those last 30 seconds.
Stand a little taller. Focus. Dig deep.
And do something hard.