As previously written in past blogs, I am one year out from being hit on my motorcycle and losing my leg below the knee. Without rehashing the details, I have learned a great deal about motivation and action. They are two distinctly different things.

As I recovered from the accident, I was exactly 100 days without a prosthesis. One hundred days on the couch, unable to get myself anywhere I needed to go without help. I thought a great deal about walking. If only I could just walk again, life would be good. I would gladly walk the trash to the dumpster! I would gladly walk through crowded Walmart for the weekly items! I just wanted to walk, and I was motivated to get back to it.

I got my prosthesis and was pumped. It hurt, but I was up on two legs. I limped, but it beat the heck out of sitting on the couch. A few weeks later we decided to head to Nashville for the Fourth of July, a bucket-list event. And why not? I was motivated to walk. So we walked, and limped, and sat, and rested for hours getting down Broadway in the heat to get to the river for the fireworks. At the end of the night, I limped, and walked, and sat, and rested for more hours trying to get back up to the car. But it was worth it. I was walking. I wanted to, and I got to.

Months passed and walking became normal and comfortable. But I needed to get stronger. I needed to be lifting weights and building my leg. I wanted to. And I got to. But pushing myself through the discomfort and pain was a real battle. Going to the gym took serious motivation.

I found it highly interesting that while lying on the couch with one leg, I would have given anything to go to the gym and lift weights. But once I COULD go to the gym and lift weights, it was still difficult to build the motivation to GO to the gym and lift weights. I WANTED to, and I GOT to, but GOING to was the hurdle. I had to force myself. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. That physics lesson was becoming all too real for me.

I pushed through, even when I didn’t want to, which was most days. I just did it. I got through it. Slowly I gained the strength and stamina to begin hiking and doing outdoor activities. Now it was getting fun again. We hiked 6 to 10 miles at a time in Glacier National Park and the Grand Tetons. The work was paying off. I could pedal a bike for miles. I could paddleboard again. All because I forced the issue to GO work out.

Athletic training is the exact same. An athlete may WANT to work out and GET to work out, but when it comes to GOING to work out, they must force themselves to put in the work. It doesn’t feel as good as sitting and resting. It is hard. It is sometimes painful. But in the end, it is always worth it. I have never heard an athlete say, “I wish I wouldn’t have worked so hard.” The opposite is very common, though. Often I hear athletes wish they had put in more effort to be successful.

This is one of the reasons we built the new Ballogy. The MTR Score we launched last week gives athletes a daily read on whether they actually moved, trained, and recovered. It turns intention into evidence, so at the end of every day you know whether you went from wanting to into going to.

Whatever it takes today for you to get up and put in the effort, DO IT. Win the mental battle. Get up and get going. You will only ever regret NOT doing it. You WANT to be better, you GET to try to be better, so GO be better. Knock it out, reward yourself after, or whatever you have to do, but don’t give in to the desire to sit and be complacent. GO be great today!