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Here’s a picture of a 16 kg kettlebell being unpacked after a 1000-mile flight from Darwin to Cairns:
As you can see, this ball of cast iron has (unsurprisingly) arrived intact. Checked in (hilariously) as “oversized” luggage, I grabbed it off the baggage carousel at my destination and carried it through the airport and into the trunk of my rental car.
It now sits in a home gym of my Airbnb and will stay here to hopefully serve future guests (approved by the owner). Before I leave, it’ll give me three weeks of solid workouts.
But let me rewind a little…
As I arrived in my favorite part of Australia, the Sunshine Coast, I decided to get some private MMA coaching. During one class, I was told by my coach to lift my (heavy) partner off the ground and carry him across the gym. I realized that I couldn’t do it.
My posterior chain was too weak. I’ve never liked strength exercises and preferred endurance workouts. And it made me weak.
The coach advised me to strengthen my back or carrying a sparring partner would be the least of my worries soon. I did some research and learned about Pavel Tsatsouline’s Simple and Sinister program that helps a lot with strengthening one’s core.
I was about to leave for my next destination, Darwin, so I decided to buy a kettlebell there. Despite staying there for only 10 days, I calculated that even if I couldn’t transport the kettlebell with me to another destination, it would still be worth it.
It was 10 days of workouts I would otherwise miss. And since the price of a kettlebell was the same as a casual gym pass (the equivalent of about 70 USD), the decision was easy to make. $7 per workout isn’t a bad price.
In the end, after calling the airline I learned that it was possible to check in the kettlebell. I was able to transport it to my next destination for further three weeks of workouts for the cost of $5 for some bubble wrap and duct tape needed to “protect” it from the harsh airport conditions.
Thank you for reading my story. I needed your attention. Now, what does it have to do with you?
Do You Have a Sense of Urgency?
The point of my story is that I could have decided to start working out a month later, back in Europe where I live more permanently. Buying a kettlebell for a 10-day stay, let alone the trouble of carrying it across airports, makes little sense, doesn’t it? It sounds like such a waste of time and money.
But here’s what separates me from other people to my benefit: I have a very deep sense of urgency.
I can’t stand wasting time if I decide to do something. Sure, probably nothing bad would have happened if I had waited. But that’s still a MONTH of my life. A month during which I could strengthen my back, feel better, prevent injuries, and start carrying people across the gym.
A month is a LOT of time. Heck, even a week can make a big difference.
When I first started my kettlebell workouts, I did them with improper form and my lower back hurt like a bitch for a week. But by the end of my stay in Darwin I was fairly confident in my technique. And in Cairns, I started proper workouts and was able to get into a solid routine straight away.
In my conversations with other people I’m often struck by how little sense of urgency they have.
They plan vacations with their aging parents for the next year (in one recent sad example, a friend lost her father before they could turn these plans into reality).
They plan to quit a job they absolutely despise when they’re xx years old, forgetting they may be dead by that time.
They ignore injuries or other signals their bodies send them until it’s impossible to fix them without invasive measures like a surgery.
We like to think there’s always more time. But there’s no such guarantee.
How Do You Develop a Sense of Urgency?
In his bestselling book Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk wrote:
“You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap.”
Pardon me for being morbid but this is about you, too. You’ll be dead. Sooner or later your beautiful sexy body is going to become the same compost heap consumed by decidedly not-sexy worms.
I have such a deep sense of urgency is because I think of death every day. While taken to the extreme it can become an obsession, in healthy amounts it serves as a powerful reminder that the clock is ticking every day.
Think of all the things you wanted to do that you kept postponing, waiting for better circumstances or because it wasn’t “sensible” to do it (such as buying a kettlebell for a 10-day stay).
How much time have you lost this way?
Each day counts.
If you want to do something, start doing it now, even imperfectly. While others are “reasonable,” you’ll be moving fast.
This applies to every aspect of life. If something is important to you, start as soon as possible.
It’s better to start fast and make mistakes along the way than keep waiting and make the same mistakes anyway (but having lost a week, a month, or a year of your life not doing it).
As for me, I’m now heading to the gym to throw the kettlebell around.
As you can see, this ball of cast iron has (unsurprisingly) arrived intact. Checked in (hilariously) as “oversized” luggage, I grabbed it off the baggage carousel at my destination and carried it through the airport and into the trunk of my rental car.
It now sits in a home gym of my Airbnb and will stay here to hopefully serve future guests (approved by the owner). Before I leave, it’ll give me three weeks of solid workouts.
But let me rewind a little…
As I arrived in my favorite part of Australia, the Sunshine Coast, I decided to get some private MMA coaching. During one class, I was told by my coach to lift my (heavy) partner off the ground and carry him across the gym. I realized that I couldn’t do it.
My posterior chain was too weak. I’ve never liked strength exercises and preferred endurance workouts. And it made me weak.
The coach advised me to strengthen my back or carrying a sparring partner would be the least of my worries soon. I did some research and learned about Pavel Tsatsouline’s Simple and Sinister program that helps a lot with strengthening one’s core.
I was about to leave for my next destination, Darwin, so I decided to buy a kettlebell there. Despite staying there for only 10 days, I calculated that even if I couldn’t transport the kettlebell with me to another destination, it would still be worth it.
It was 10 days of workouts I would otherwise miss. And since the price of a kettlebell was the same as a casual gym pass (the equivalent of about 70 USD), the decision was easy to make. $7 per workout isn’t a bad price.
In the end, after calling the airline I learned that it was possible to check in the kettlebell. I was able to transport it to my next destination for further three weeks of workouts for the cost of $5 for some bubble wrap and duct tape needed to “protect” it from the harsh airport conditions.
Thank you for reading my story. I needed your attention. Now, what does it have to do with you?
Do You Have a Sense of Urgency?
The point of my story is that I could have decided to start working out a month later, back in Europe where I live more permanently. Buying a kettlebell for a 10-day stay, let alone the trouble of carrying it across airports, makes little sense, doesn’t it? It sounds like such a waste of time and money.
But here’s what separates me from other people to my benefit: I have a very deep sense of urgency.
I can’t stand wasting time if I decide to do something. Sure, probably nothing bad would have happened if I had waited. But that’s still a MONTH of my life. A month during which I could strengthen my back, feel better, prevent injuries, and start carrying people across the gym.
A month is a LOT of time. Heck, even a week can make a big difference.
When I first started my kettlebell workouts, I did them with improper form and my lower back hurt like a bitch for a week. But by the end of my stay in Darwin I was fairly confident in my technique. And in Cairns, I started proper workouts and was able to get into a solid routine straight away.
In my conversations with other people I’m often struck by how little sense of urgency they have.
They plan vacations with their aging parents for the next year (in one recent sad example, a friend lost her father before they could turn these plans into reality).
They plan to quit a job they absolutely despise when they’re xx years old, forgetting they may be dead by that time.
They ignore injuries or other signals their bodies send them until it’s impossible to fix them without invasive measures like a surgery.
We like to think there’s always more time. But there’s no such guarantee.
How Do You Develop a Sense of Urgency?
In his bestselling book Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk wrote:
“You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap.”
Pardon me for being morbid but this is about you, too. You’ll be dead. Sooner or later your beautiful sexy body is going to become the same compost heap consumed by decidedly not-sexy worms.
I have such a deep sense of urgency is because I think of death every day. While taken to the extreme it can become an obsession, in healthy amounts it serves as a powerful reminder that the clock is ticking every day.
Think of all the things you wanted to do that you kept postponing, waiting for better circumstances or because it wasn’t “sensible” to do it (such as buying a kettlebell for a 10-day stay).
How much time have you lost this way?
Each day counts.
If you want to do something, start doing it now, even imperfectly. While others are “reasonable,” you’ll be moving fast.
This applies to every aspect of life. If something is important to you, start as soon as possible.
It’s better to start fast and make mistakes along the way than keep waiting and make the same mistakes anyway (but having lost a week, a month, or a year of your life not doing it).
As for me, I’m now heading to the gym to throw the kettlebell around.
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