It’s Not Always Fun but Accountability Is the Key to Your Success
As I write this it’s currently 10.30 pm, I’ve been on the go from 7.30 am this morning and I still haven’t had my dinner, but that’s no excuse. In order to get what you want sometimes you have to do the things that you don’t wanna do.
Today has been one heck of a day and right about now I’d love to be crawling into bed, but I’m not.
Instead, I’m sat on the floor of my living room, stretching out while writing this and waiting for my dinner which is cooking in the oven, but why?
My day started out as per usual with the alarm on my bedside table going off at 6.45 am, my cue to get up and get ready for work — after a cheeky press of the snooze button of course.
I got up, showered, brushed my teeth and dressed myself while my three-year-old son lay on the bed and watched cartoons on Netflix, it’s the easiest way to keep him quiet and in the one place for ten minutes.
After dressing the little man and making him some toast to eat in the car, we were off, 7.30 am on the dot to make our daily commute.
I dropped him off at day-care and then I made my way to the office.
As soon as I sat down at my desk and looked at my emails it was clear that it was gonna be ‘one of those days’.
You know the ones, where everyone wants everything done now and it’s all urgent because the clients are screaming blue murder and the world is about to end.
(No one ever seems to mention all the time that they’ve had to do their bit, it only becomes urgent when it’s on someone else to perform their part of the process, funny that.)
Anyways, after nine hours of ‘putting out fires' and doing my best to keep everyone as happy (and as quiet) as possible, my workday finally came to an end.
And even though today had been a tough one I had a smile from ear to ear as I walked to my car because tonight was Krav Maga night!
Where I go twice per week to learn self-defence and to kick some ass (and to have my ass kicked. After all, if you’re good enough to give it you’ve got to know how to take it as well.)
So, after a quick stop off at home to grab my gear and knock back a quick coffee, for a much-needed energy boost, I was off on the 45min drive towards the Krav Maga gym.
The classes usually go on for 90mins but I like to go down 30mins early to warm up, get a sweat on and to loosen up before we begin.
Tonight’s class was tough —the theme of the day. We worked on fighting from the ground, which involved a lot of getting up and down off of the floor and also a lot of wrestling/grappling with my training partners.
Anyone who’s done any kind of martial art/self-defence training before will know that groundwork really takes it out of you, it’s a full-body workout and your cardio best be on point too.
We trained hard, listened to the instructor, learned some cool techniques and put them into action against the other members of the gym, and when it was all said and done, we left the class feeling tired, sweaty, satisfied and with the confidence found only in real badasses.
I tiptoed through my front door into complete darkness, everyone else was in bed by the time it took me to drive home, and I made my way to the kitchen to make some food — homemade pizza, I trained hard, I deserve a treat.
After sliding the mouth-watering meal into the oven to cook I caught a glimpse of my dairy sitting on the worktop, “May as well check off the daily tasks which I completed today and fill out tomorrows to-do list” I thought to myself as I waited for the bell on the oven to ding!
(And this is where we come full circle, so thanks for sticking with me.)
After ticking off all the tasks that I had set for myself and completed today I was left with two remaining which I couldn’t bring myself to put a line through as they had yet to be completed.
They were; perform my evening stretch and write a piece for Medium.
(Part of my monthly goals being to write more than I did last month and to work on my flexibility for Krav Maga.)
In the chaos of today, I never had a chance to even think about a new piece never mind work on one, which I do on my free time throughout the day.
And with tonight’s training class being a late one, we never performed much of a stretch after we worked out.
My initial thought was to sit on the couch, fire up some YouTube, eat my pizza when it was ready, shower then go to bed.
But here I am still awake, full of food, a little bit smelly but feeling proud of myself for doing what was required to allow me to strike the last two items of the list and keep myself on track to achieve this month's goals.
All too often we opt for the easy option, using the famous, “I’ll do it tomorrow” or “I’ll do double the work tomorrow to get back on track.”
Which rarely happens.
Sure, I’m tired and will miss out on maybe an hour or two of sleep but when I reach the end of the month knowing deep down in my heart that I put in the work required to achieve my goals, it will all be worthwhile, if just for the self-satisfaction alone.
Now it’s time for me to shower and make my way to bed, but not to sleep, for I still have to promote my piece after it’s been published, doh!
Though, they do say the journey is sometimes better than the destination, let’s hope they’re right.
Enjoy the process and hold yourself accountable 👊.
Thanks for reading! :)
