Sometimes, you just have to do it.  As an athlete and coach and trainer and friend, I take everything I do very seriously and hope to excel at all aspects. This can be a blessing and curse however.  A curse, because I often fail to start a workout, initiate a consultation, or call a friend because I don’t think I will perform well enough to even consider whatever I’m doing a success.  It’s as though the fear of failure has taken over, before I even begin.  A blessing, because once I do get myself going and motivated, generally everything goes smoothly. I often look back and although I may see some setbacks here or there, I’m generally wondering why I didn’t just get going sooner. 

Lately, I have been training and racing with some new friends  (AJ Baucco, Pedro Gomez, Zach Ruble, and Aubrey Aldy) and it has been fun and humbling at the same time. Fun, because it is great to train with people, when most of my training has been alone for the past couple of years.  And humbling, because I’m getting my butt kicked, as I’m working hard physically and doing my best to challenge my mind to be ok with not always being able to keep up. 

I realize that my fear of not thinking that I will be able to perform at 100% in everything I do has often kept me from for some great opportunities.  However, as I move forward, and I hope you do as well, realizing it is okay to be at 50% or 75% when that is all you can give.  Whether it be in life, working, being there for a friend, training, dieting, changing habits,…giving some of yourself is better is than giving none of yourself.  Just showing up and trying your best (even if it can’t always be 100%) is often the most important thing we can do.