“No Excuses. Just Improve”

It’s early on a Saturday morning and I have just finished my final set of double-unders.

Covered in sweat and whip lashes from the speed rope, I trudged over to a bench and planted myself down hard. I was defeated, humbled and feeling sorry for myself.  

Double-unders seem to fatigue me terribly quickly – I thought, perhaps there was a technical flaw in my movement pattern; perhaps my rope isn’t the right length; perhaps my shoes need to be on tighter.

Each of these possibilities I considered for a minute, before making my way over to one of the more seasoned athletes in the gym to request his take on my dilemma.

“You figured out a way to hack double-unders yet?” I questioned him.

He was quiet for a moment, as if scouring his brain for the necessary information; the magic trick, to nailing the perfect set of double-unders no doubt… 

But his response surprised me. 

“No excuses. Just improve”. 

It was simple and straight-shooting advice. And precisely what I needed to hear.

In that moment I realised that we all can try and rationalise our difficulties in performing tasks of varying natures; be it a power clean, a double under, sitting down to write, or solving a maths problem. 

Perhaps we tell ourselves: “My anatomy isn’t suited to this type of exercise”, “I’m more of a visual learner”, or “I’m naturally not good at this”.

But the reality is, we just need to improve – to stop justifying, rationalising and excusing; and rather just do the work. 

This is a fool proof formula and if we apply it, we will reap the rewards.

So instead of overcomplicating your lack of progress, simply do the work.

Think: “No excuses. Just improve.” 

Because eventually, you will.