Delayed Gratification: The Key To Unlocking Your Potential

Eleanor Carey
Sep 8, 2018 · 2 min read

Rowing really was the ultimate exercise in delayed gratification. There were no sleep-ins or going to bed early. There was no phoning a friend. There was no going out for a burger and chips after a hard session. No massages. No ice creams. No going home to your partner to vent about your day. No warm, dry, soft bed. No showers. No going for coffees. No beer. No movies.

It was just this relentless salty, painful, wet, cold, hot, blistered, nauseous, hungry, bruised, sleepless life.

But the kicker is, you get used to it. The things you never thought you would be able to endure, you survive. The things you never thought you could do, you achieve. The things you never thought you could live without, you do. And you probably don’t believe me, but right now I’m talking to you.

Yes, you.

I’ll say it again.

The things YOU never thought you would be able to endure, YOU SURVIVE. The things YOU never thought you could do, YOU ACHIEVE. The things YOU never thought you could live without, YOU DO.

YES, YOU.

So the question is now, do you trust yourself? Do you believe in yourself enough to put yourself to the test? Can you choose to lean into the discomfort?

And believe me, it will be uncomfortable.

But that is the point. To be uncomfortable. Because you cannot learn anything by being comfortable. By repeating all the things you have done before. This is not how we learn and grow. There is a saying that “If you follow in your own footsteps, you will only end up where you began”.

So I want to ask you, how are you going to make yourself uncomfortable? What niggling thing is in your mind right now? Or are you going to follow your own footsteps and just end up where you began?

If you go for it, you will adapt. I promise that you will not remain uncomfortable for very long. And then all of a sudden you will be doing it and that will be your new normal. That will be the new you. A bigger, better, stronger version of everything that you already were before.

You.

Eleanor Carey

Written by

Adventurer / First Australian female to row the Pacific Ocean / 2 x World Record Holder / Speaker / Writes here.

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