It is finally over! I spent 24 straight hours working with my moving team to get our move completed. Except for some minor issues, it went very well.

I did not get to do my weight workout at all yesterday and that made me sad at first.  However, during the move I had several younger guys comment on how strong I am.  I was just doing what I had to do to get the move done by picking up heavy servers that topped out at 100 pounds each and carrying them up two flights of stairs to the new office.  The young guys who were struggling to carry the servers in teams of two noticed that I was carrying them on my own.  They asked how I was able to get so strong and I commented "One word, guys—deadlifts!"

It was after that incident that it struck me.  We work hard and we push ourselves and when we make it to the gym, we hardly celebrate that success at all.  However, when we miss one single workout we are ready to declare a defeat.  The fact is that we are consistent with our workouts to minimize the effects of missing the occassional workout here or there.  The fact is that the results we've pushed ourselves to achieve are marvelled at more by other people than by ourselves.  Why is that?  We should be celebrating the little successes we have along the way. We should pat ourselves on the back when we make it to the gym for an entire week without missing.  We should reward ourselves for the times that we go two entire weeks without missing a workout.  When we beat our previous workout we should have a mini celebration of some sort.  Regular readers of this blog know that I advocate working hard to beat your previous workout every time you go to the gym.  Those readers might think that if you follow my advice you'll be celebrating an awful lot.  To those people I say "So what?"

Is it wrong to celebrate our successes?  No, of course it isn't!  Just like we should not hesitate to celebrate our successes, we should not accept defeat as something that will lead to our ultimate demise.  Defeats happen regularly and we should use them and build upon them, because defeats are just results that we produce.  Results happen no matter what we do.  Sometimes they make us happy and other times they don't.  When we fall, we pick ourselves right back up and move on.  That's the sign of character.

I have to say that the one thing I've really come to love about the group shred is that everyone is celebrating each other's little successes.  The one thing I'd like to see more of is the members of the Shredder Council celebrating their own victories more often.  Make it a goal today to celebrate a victory.

Did I miss my workout yesterday?  Yes.  Did it matter in the big scheme of what I'm trying to accomplish?  No, not the slightest bit.  I'm exhaused from my move, but I have a smile on my face because I know I'm stronger today than I was yesterday and I'll be even stronger tomorrow than I am today.  It is all in the attitude!

Until next time...