500 Words a Week - Formula for Results

Time x Effort = Results. This was something I heard Mike Guadango discuss awhile back.

Recently I got a new snatch personal best. I snatched 115kg. While in the grand scheme of competitive weightlifting, it might not be a lot, to me it was huge.

This was a number I never thought I’d hit before. Never could even imagine doing, and I got it. Hitting this lift strongly linked to what Guadango mentioned above. It’s a lot to do with just showing up and applying effort, and just endlessly repeating this process.

Something I like to think about regarding this is that the effort you’re able to apply won’t also be your best. Those days are the most difficult. The days when no matter what you do, nothing works. The days when you feel like you’ve taken 5 steps back rather than 1 step forward. On these days, it’s important to note that you showed up. You still got something done, and that’s half the battle.

We can be our own worst critics, and during these downward spiralling days it’s important to get back to work. Steve Magness and Brad Stulberg discuss a rule in “The Passion Paradox”. After a big win or a big loss, allow yourself 24 hours to process those emotions, then get back to work.

I hit that snatch PB on a Saturday, I’ll give myself Sunday to be happy. Then Monday I’ll go back to work. Applying the same formula as above, time x effort = results, with the hope of achieving more.

While the above discusses getting a new snatch PB, I feel it applies to other areas. Something bad happens in work, give yourself 24 hours to process it, then get back to work. 

One of the biggest things about this formula is to not be disheartened when results go lacking or it feels like it’s been a while since you’ve seen major progress. 

We also need to be careful with solely focusing on results. We’ve heard many phrases or talks discussing how we must enjoy the journey over the destination. I think in some cases this makes sense. If we solely focus on results, during a period lacking in results we will become easily disheartened, easily dissuaded off the journey we are on. We might look elsewhere. If we abide by this, we will never achieve anything.

Sacrifices do have to made. A phrase I heard recently was “You can have anything you want in life, but you can’t have everything”. You need to make the decision with how and where you invest your time, and then ruthlessly apply the above formula.