On Resignation...

This year, I started with the intention to train every day. During my my time university this was normal to me... but once I started to work at Bain and later became a father, I did not manage to stay in my workout routine.

Of course, one can blame life for that... or one can take accountability. Being honest to myself, it does not take much to stay fit. Dedicating 30 minutes everyday would be enough.

With that in mind, I approached 2024... and with the exception of a few sick days with fever, I managed to workout every day. On some days it was a longer walk, on other days it was strength exercise, on some days it was yoga, and once to twice a week I played football.

After the first 4 month, I had made some progress in terms of weight loss, muscle gain, and general fitness... but I was still far from my fitness level in my early 20s.

Now, one might say "Come on man... you can't expect to get as fit as you were in the past. You are getting older and that's life."

Maybe that person is right... but I refuse to resign.

For the past four days, I reevaluated my training... I sat down and reflected for myself. What were the reasons that I was not seeing the progress I expected.

The answer is simple... I was not training as hard as I used to. I was not pushing myself. I was going soft on myself. I did the workout, but I did not exhaust myself.

And as long as I do not give 100%, I refuse to believe that I cannot make it to the same fitness level as I was during my 20s.

So this morning, I pushed myself... I pushed myself to 100 burpees, 100 squats, and 200 sit ups.

As I was working out, I said to myself "Come on... why do 100 burpees? Aren't 50 enough for today? Start slow and accelerate later. You are not 20 anymore!"

Whenever that self doubt sneaked in through that back door, I reminded myself... "This is all a mental game. I am not done, until I am done. I refuse to resign. I can do this."

Once I had hit 50 burpees, I knew that it was just another 50 to go. I did another 10, now 40 left. I did another 10, now 30 left. I did another 10, now 20 left. With 20 left, I knew I would finish... I celebrated those two last rounds of 10 burpees each. I high-fived myself and was proud of my achievement.

I did not earn a single Euro, no one was present to see what I had done, I did not win a bet... So why was I proud? I was proud because I had defeated my self doubt today.

That self doubt... that inner voice that wants to resign, is not dead... it is there. It is waiting to sneak in at every opportunity. But as I did in my 20s during my workouts and during my medical studies, I can defeat that self doubt over and over again. And every time I succeed, I develop more mental muscle to succeed in the future.

Now, you might take this as one of those stories where the key message is to never give in, to constantly push yourself, and to push others.

Be aware... my story is not about others. It is just about myself. It is about me setting a goal that I know I can achieve but as I work on it the self doubt might result in resignation.

This story is about the mental games that we need to play with ourselves to defeat that resignation and instead achieve what we set out to achieve.

I intentionally did not set a fix time... I did not even measure my time. Because this is not a competition. As I build more strength, I might actually make it a competition with myself. For now, it is just about doing those 100 reps.

As an entrepreneur, I have felt that self-doubt for the past 15+ years. I cannot count how often I asked myself "How am I going to pay the salaries? Where will our next client come from?"

These thoughts were never fun... but I managed to push through. Every time I thought it would get tough, we somehow acquired a new customer. Not due to luck, but based on the hard work we put in every single day.

Resignation happens, when we do not believe in luck. And luck is when opportunity meets preparedness.

The world is full of opportunity... thus the only thing we need to do is to be prepared. We need to put ourselves out there every single day and not give in to that sneaky voice inside our heads that tells us we cannot do something.

Tomorrow morning 5:30 am, I will be hitting the gym again for another round of 100 burpees ;-)

#FromNothingComesNothing