Why strong mental doesn’t matter
Startup Cycling: 35/120
On March 30th, 2016, I joined Thomas Despin to cross the United States from New York to San Francisco by bicycle. One of our common objective is to improve our discipline, by making every day, for 120 days. He makes videos, I write articles.
It’s been 16 days since I left New York City. I cycled 15 days in 16.
For the first time today, I rode more than 100km. Thomas and I went from Winona to Toronto, Canada.
Before that, my best days were about 80km and still, it was tough.
Just 3 weeks ago, I had really never ridden a bike (at least not since I am 12 years old!). At the end of this day, I felt both relieved, starving and exhausted, and I wonder.
How did I manage to do it ?
A lot of people who are following this cycling trip told me that they wouldn’t be able to do it themselves. Mostly because they think they don’t have what it takes physically to succeed. I think they are wrong. I didn’t have what it takes and it didn’t matter.
At this time I thought that a strong mental is the only matter.
This is the thing that led me to take on the project to cross the US by bike. This is the thing I would have told you to work on if you were considering to make such a physical, emotional and personal experience.
But on the road then, I realized that something else more important matters.
A strong mental won’t make you achieve 100km per day. It won’t help you to get anything if you don’t know what you’re after.
The first thing that you need no matter what you aim to achieve in life is a GOAL.
You need to find this thing you are dreaming of, this thing you need, this thing that will change your life for good.
This morning, I had the goal to reach out Toronto. No matter how many kilometers I needed to do so, I would have done it today.
Several times this day I would have stopped to have a rest and Thomas and I would have probably pitched the tent 2 hours before we arrived in Toronto because of our lack of sleep and our hunger and thirst.
But today, I had a goal. Today, I decided to make it to Toronto. Since I had set this goal, my strong mental mattered.
Having a strong mental matters only when you know WHEN and WHY you need it.
The outcome was even better than I imagined. Because today, while I was achieving this goal, I beat my personal best: I cycled more than 100km!
DO IT.
Press on ❤ if you ❤ it!
This article is originally published on Startup Cycling.
You can support us here!
