Thoughts Become Words, Words Become Actions, Actions Become Habits, Habits Become Character, Character Becomes Your Destiny

Hey, everybody. Welcome to physical Friday this week. This is a pretty good one. Good, good subject in my opinion. And that is so much of the physical that we're trying to accomplish really is accomplished really through what you're doing mentally.

Like, how you talk to yourself, how you control the inner voice, the thoughts that you have, and the way that you use them can either be a great positive benefit to you and your progress as an athlete or your progress towards a goal, or it can be a significant negative in that regard. That's what we're gonna talk about today. Just how your thoughts can really pay big dividends or how they can really cause you significant problems.

When people come into the gym, let's just say, but this can be applied really anywhere in life, certainly in fishing and everything else that we're doing. But when people come into the gym, generally, there is a workout posted somewhere, either online or on a whiteboard somewhere, and you look at it. And when you're looking at that workout, that's the moment where your mind starts to play tricks on you.

Oh, this is gonna be really hard. Oh, this is gonna be terrible. This is gonna be horrible. This is gonna be the worst. This is, you know, as opposed to, wow. That looks good. That looks challenging. I think I can do that. There's a big difference in the way that you talk. You're not actually uttering these words. You're just thinking these thoughts. And you can catch yourself thinking these thoughts and change your thoughts to something a little more positive.

Like, for example, you're looking at a very difficult workout. You don't know if you're going to be able to finish. You start to hear yourself saying things like, this is going to be terrible. I don't think I'm going to be able to do this. To, you know what? I'm gonna try. I'm gonna do my best. I'm gonna start here. I'm gonna do one rep at a time, and I'm gonna make it through. There's a big difference between those two mindsets, and there's a big difference in going in and actually getting the work done.

Sometimes, it starts, you know, in bed right in the morning when your alarm goes off. We were having that conversation earlier about how to overcome the temptation to just fall back asleep. And that's where a lot of times this inner monologue starts right there. It starts right in the morning when the alarm goes off. And it's always been my feeling that that moment right there tends to kind of start your day off in one of two directions.

It starts your day off in a positive direction if you can kinda get up and do what you're supposed to be doing, or it starts your day off in a negative direction if you avoid the plans for the day, plans for the workout, whatever, and just go back to sleep. And that tends to start the day off on one foot or the other, and I believe that that's a big part of success is being able to overcome the temptation to just roll back over and go to sleep or overcome the temptation to talk negatively to yourself in your thoughts, because it's pretty easy.

One of the books that I've read in the last year or so that I really liked was by a coach. And I've hired this individual. His name is Ben Bergeron. He's been my coach and has written a lot of programming for me. He does a program called Comp Train Masters, and he'll write CrossFit programming for people that are trying to make it to the games, which is something that I've been trying to do for the last few years.

Part of his training is not only the physical training, but also the mental training. He always has kind of a quote to think about for the day and kind of a mental lesson. But one of the things that really struck home with me about his work and the way that he coaches is that he's always kind of paying attention to this inner monologue that athletes have with themselves. And everyone's got kind of an inner voice that you're carrying on this conversation in your mind, often during some really challenging times.

And he's always asking, if your inner voice was on a megaphone or on a loudspeaker, would you be pleased with what it was saying? And in a lot of ways, we wouldn't talk to someone else the way that we talk to ourselves. You wouldn't have any friends. You're talking really badly to yourself. You're saying you're an idiot or you're embarrassing yourself or you can't do this or whatever. If you talk to other people like that, you wouldn't have any friends.

So are you talking to yourself like that in the middle of a very challenging workout? Maybe you can't stop that immediately, but could you become aware of that kind of talk that you're doing to yourself and maybe start to slowly kinda change it or at least be aware of it? Would it be helpful if you were talking to your kids that way? Would it be helpful if someone else, a coach, was talking to you that way?

If not, which probably in most cases, it would not be helpful, could you alter that? Could you alter the way that you talk to yourself and possibly achieve great physical benefits because of it? Really, in my own experience, my attitude going into a workout and my commitment level has a tremendous amount to do with my intensity. If I go into a workout and I'm incredibly committed and I'm ready to go, and I feel good, and I'm happy, and I'm feeling great, I'm gonna do very well in that workout.

I'm going to go at it with great intensity. I'm gonna probably go at it with the intention of setting a PR if it's something that I've done before. And as you probably are aware, the more intense your training, the more benefits you're going to receive. The closer you're gonna get to your goals, the faster you're gonna make big gains, the faster you're going to make progress towards whatever your goal is.

So it all starts with your thoughts. It all starts with how you're talking to yourself, how you are thinking about little things. You can talk about it in the context of a gym because I believe that the gym is like a microcosm of life. You can find different scenarios in the gym that you can apply to life. A lot of times, they are far more intense and far shorter in the gym than you're gonna encounter in life, but it's kinda the same thing.

And I find that the way that I'm talking to myself through one of these workouts is very similar to the way that I'm gonna talk to myself in times of difficulty, in business or in a fishing tournament or in some other sort of preparation. Am I gonna get frustrated and discouraged, or am I gonna talk to myself in a way that is gonna be helpful and positive? That's just something to think about on today's episode of physical Friday and how your mental state can either improve your training or have significant drawbacks from it.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to physical Friday today. We're in a six part series. This is number two of a six part series where we're going through some things to think about, some things that have been very beneficial to me as far as your inner monologue, the way that you talk to yourself, the words that you use, and how that determines your success or failure in pretty much anything.

There's a couple of quotes we'll start with today. This one is by Chad Wright, who's a former Navy Seal. He was just on Lewis Howes podcast. He said your tongue is your rudder. It will steer the direction of your life and the outcomes of your situations 98% of the time. Zig Ziglar says, there's power in words. What you say is what you get. And words create worlds, Pierre DuPlece.

It's very difficult for us to have complete control over our thoughts. Our thoughts sometimes run wild. Sometimes when you're doing something very difficult, you have thoughts of not being able to do it, thoughts of maybe you may fail, thoughts of I wonder if I'm good enough to be here. Often, you can just dismiss them and not pay any attention to them, and they go away.

But there's a serious change when you actually speak that aloud, and you say something like, I don't think I'm good enough to be here, or I'm going to fail, or you use many other words that do nothing positive for your situation. The reason that we're doing this six part series is because there is a meme that goes: Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your character, and your character determines your destiny.

Of the six things, this one may be the most important because unlike your thoughts that you really don't have complete control of, you do have complete control over what comes out of your mouth. When you can keep that bottled up and not allow those words to come out of your mouth, like I quit, like I can't, then you can just keep going. But when you say those words aloud, you give them power, and just like Zig Ziglar said, that's what you get.

I've seen it play out in the events that I've done, like Go Ruck selection, like Seal Fit Kokoro, like many difficult workouts where somebody is having a hard time with something, and they actually say it out loud. And just a few minutes after they say something out loud, they're done. This goes for both positive and negative things. You can utter a negative thought and give it power, and it can have you quit. But you can also choose to say something very positive out loud, and it can give you great energy and great power.

You see this play out with athletes like Muhammad Ali. He would say out loud that he was going to be the champion. He would say out loud that he was going to be the greatest of all time. Conor McGregor is someone doing that regularly in the UFC. He believes in this wholeheartedly, and he has shaped his career through the words he says.

Now there are some words that over the years I've really tried to avoid because they can be so damaging. My kids probably heard this more than they ever wanted to. One of those words is can't. I really try to avoid saying can't because as soon as you say you can't do something, in your mind, it shuts off all possibility that you could possibly do that. That's what I told my kids as they were growing up. We just are not gonna say that because it's just like giving up.

The way that so many things get done is through creative thinking, is through thinking, how could I do that? How would it be possible to make that happen? Often, it's the solutions that are kind of out of the box, that are thinking differently, that are successful.

Another word I've tried to avoid is hate. Hate is a strong, ugly, serious word. You might be able to replace it by saying, you know, it's not my favorite, rather than saying you hate something. Never and always are two words I'm aware of using. It's going to be very difficult to never do something or always do something. When you say I always do this, it shuts off the possibility for a better way to do something. When you say never, it does the same thing.

Another word I don't like is impossible. Nothing is impossible. I have seen that over and over in my lifetime. You can make just about anything happen. It just takes creative thinking, work, try, and avoiding the temptation to quit. Nothing's impossible, and you can basically do anything with enough try, sweat, dedication.

I also don't like the word fail. Like Conor McGregor says, there is no fail. You either win or you learn. You're gonna learn more in failure of not achieving something than you will by achieving it. It's kind of just taking a negative and putting a spin on it and making it a positive.

Other negative words I try to avoid: horrible, awful, terrible, you're screwed, it's insane, horrendous, it's gonna suck, it's the worst. You hear people talk about traffic like that or talk about a busy schedule like that. For me, it just hasn't done anything positive. Replacing that with more positive terms has been very productive. I'm really busy today. I've got so many great things going on as opposed to got an insane schedule.

As this applies to the physical, in periods of great difficulty, being aware that the words you say out loud, if you choose to allow those thoughts to become words, you are giving those thoughts power that they didn't originally have. It's been beneficial to me to be very careful about what I actually say aloud during these times of great difficulty and realizing that it's okay to say nothing. It's much better to say nothing than to give those negative thoughts power and say them aloud.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to Physical Friday. Today, we are in part three of our little series where we go through the quote, thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits become character, and character becomes your destiny.

We have already talked about your thoughts. We've talked about how it's very difficult to control your thoughts completely, but you can be aware of them. You can either just let them go or make a conscious effort to speak to yourself a little more kindly, a little more of a cheerleader rather than some negative voice in your ear.

We've talked about how when you actually speak the words aloud, that gives those thoughts power that they once did not have. Maybe that turns into quitting, or maybe it turns into someone else around you quitting. We've also talked about how as you speak things into words, you can also do the opposite and speak positive out there.

Today, we talk about how words become actions. Let's go back to the physical example of when you're in a tough workout or an event, and you're having this inner monologue, this battle of, man, this is tough. This is really hard. I'm not sure if I can do this. If you keep that to yourself and let those thoughts pass through your mind or change those thoughts consciously to I can do this, I'm just gonna keep taking one step, put one foot in front of the other, and sooner or later, I will be finished with this. You can consciously change the way you're speaking to yourself.

But if you allow those negative thoughts to become words and you say, I don't think I can do this, it will only be a short time after you say that for most people that you quit. That is where your words become your actions. You speak aloud that this is very difficult. I don't think I can do it. You express doubt, and then you quit or somebody quits.

That is something I've seen play out many times with others, and, of course, I've seen it play out with myself. You're having a day where your inner monologue is stronger or your mind is weaker, and you allow those thoughts to become words. And you say something like, my back just doesn't feel like doing this today. And you say that, and just a few seconds later, you've checked out. You quit.

And I've seen it play out many, many more times with myself in the fact that you can say something positive, and you can turn something around, and you can actually make it. You can finish the workout. You can finish the difficult situation by speaking aloud the positive thoughts that you have.

As you are talking to yourself in a lot of different ways, as we get closer to the New Year's, many people have New Year's resolutions. If you speak that aloud, you share that with another person. You say, this year, I'm gonna get in shape. I'm gonna go to the gym four days a week, and I'm going to get on this diet program. You've spoken that aloud, and that will have a big part in your success or failure.

As you share it with someone else, you create accountability with yourself. Hopefully, the person you choose to share it with is going to be a positive influence and help you with accountability. When you speak it aloud, if you can keep your actions congruent with your words, that's very important.

If you speak it aloud and you tell your best friend that you're going to do something, but then you don't, that is an action that is not congruent with your goals. That can lead to developing some very negative habits of saying you're gonna do something and not actually following through. That's not a recipe for success in any endeavor.

However, if you say you're going to do something and you actually follow through, that is great. And the more you do that, the more those actions of following through become a habit. Those actions, when done regularly, they become habits, and it's those habits that lead us to success or failure.

Something to think about is what words am I saying aloud, and are they congruent with my positive goals, or are they not? And if they're not, then I either need to change my actions or I need to change the words that I'm saying. This isn't an easy thing. It requires a lot of introspection.

You can ask your wife. You can ask your best friend. From an outside perspective, do you see that the words that I say are congruent with the goals that I've expressed? If that person's a real friend, they'll tell you. If you have a friend like that, that's a good friend to have because they're telling you straight.

Be aware this week, especially as we go into the New Year's resolution time. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions, and then your actions are gonna become your habits when done regularly.

Alright, everybody. Welcome to physical Friday this week. We're in the middle of a six part series going over a quote: your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your character, and your character becomes your destiny.

As we've already discussed, we talked about your thoughts and how when you try to control them, sometimes they're very difficult to control. We talked about how those thoughts, when spoken aloud into words, give those thoughts power that they never had before, and those words will become actions.

For example, the example we used is you're having an inner monologue of doubt in a very difficult workout. I don't know if I could finish this. This is really hard. I don't like this. Then you can battle that in your head or change that consciously to just gonna put one foot in front of the other. I will be finished one rep at a time. Don't get overwhelmed. You can do this. Trust your training. Things like that can move you to a place of success.

Where if you allow those thoughts to become words and you say those negative thoughts you're thinking, I don't know if I can do this. This hurts. I don't like this. You're not ready for this. This is stupid. Then it will be only moments later that some people will check out and quit. Once those negative thoughts are spoken into words, they become much more powerful.

Today, we're talking about how your actions can become your habits. There are negatives and positives to everything. When you quit and you do that regularly because you have allowed your thoughts to become too powerful and allowed them to become words in a negative way, like I don't like this, I quit, this is painful, I don't wanna do this. If you do that regularly, then quitting becomes a habit, and that habit follows you through the rest of your life. You not only quit in workouts, you quit in lots of other things.

It's been popularized in Hollywood: if you quit now, you're gonna quit on everything in your life. There's some truth to that. If you quit, then it can become a habit of quitting.

Now on the positive side, if you say you're gonna do something, a lot of people first part of the year are saying they're gonna do something physical. They're gonna make a change. They're gonna go to the gym. They're gonna get on this diet. They're gonna lose weight. They're gonna exercise an hour a day.

When you say something like that and then you actually do it, going to the gym becomes a habit, and that habit is far more than just going to the gym. You have developed a habit that's positive for your life, and if you can do that by going to the gym, you can do that in any area of your life. You can develop a habit for saving money. For saying nice things to your wife. For donating your time at the homeless shelter. Whatever it is that you want to do, you can develop a habit out of that.

If you can develop that habit in that area of your life, you can develop a habit in any area of your life that can be very positive. Of course, you can look at it the other way and say that you can develop a negative habit of quitting or a negative habit of something that we know is hazardous to your health, like smoking. And maybe for some people, developing negative habits is easier than developing positive habits. But the process of developing a habit is the same.

It goes back to this quote. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. So are your actions negative or positive, and are you doing them repeatedly?

If it's a positive thing, that habit can't come soon enough. If it's a negative thing, that habit tends to develop faster than we would like. So as you are developing your goals for the year, these are things to think about. How can you develop a habit for follow through to where whatever you say you're gonna do, you do?

There's a quote for this that many people attribute to Aristotle. But I don't think it was Aristotle. Will Durant may be the one that actually said it. But it's attributed to Aristotle a lot. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit." Excellence is a habit.

You allow the positive thoughts to become words. You don't allow the negative thoughts to become words. You allow those words to become actions in the pursuit of excellence, and you allow that pursuit of excellence to become a habit.

So actions become habit. Next week, we're gonna talk about how habit goes a step further into determining your character, actually who you are deep within yourself. The fabric of who you are is your character. And your character is incredibly important to any success or failure that any of us have.

So on the final part of this series where we're going over how your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your character, and your character determines your destiny. That's what we're talking about today.

There's a little example that many of you have probably seen before. You imagine two boats, the starting line of a tournament or just two boats in a port. And they take off, and they're both going what looks like exactly the same course, but they're not. They're a couple degrees off from one another.

And over time, you're going right along this other boat, and it's right next to you. And it looks like you're going to the same place. But over time and distance, the two boats start to diverge. One goes a little to the left, one goes a little to the right. Then all of a sudden, that other boat's out of sight.

If you go far enough, those two boats end up in two very different places just because of a couple of degrees. And that's what this is all about — being aware of these small things that are going on in your mind and what massive changes they can have in your life over time. It's not gonna happen tomorrow. But over great distances in time, small changes that you make in your thoughts, in your words, in your actions, and how those develop into habits will make huge differences in your character.

So your character determines your destiny. Each one of these little things ultimately have really big impacts on who we are and where we go. If your thoughts turn into words, your words turn into actions, your actions turn into habits, your habits turn into character, and character determines your destiny, then it's easy to see how each of us controls our own destiny.

Each of us can create a life that we want, and it all starts with your thoughts. You can create intentional thoughts like being creative and thinking, this is something I want to do. I want to be a fishing guide. I want to win a fishing tournament. I want to lose 50 pounds. Whatever it is.

Then those are intentional thoughts that you put in your own head, and they get you on the right track. Or there are other thoughts that are much more difficult to control, but you can be aware of them, and those are the negative thoughts, doubt, frustration, anger. You can choose whether you allow that to become a word. Do you allow that to become an action?

If you do those actions repeatedly, they can turn into habits. If you have that habit long enough, it can turn into your character, and your character is who you are. You're either honest or you're not. You're a hard worker or you're not. You quit or you don't. There's all different places you can land on the spectrum.

As we conclude this little series, I hope it's been interesting for you. The big takeaway is that this can be this pie in the sky kinda thing. Oh, you just have to think positive. That works sometimes. But then there's the negative side of it, which could be even more important, and that is that we're all gonna have negative thoughts. You're gonna choose to give those thoughts power or not.

Depending on how much and how often you choose to give those negative thoughts power, that has big implications on the rest of your life. It's not just one thought. It's over time, over a lifetime, over ten years, over twenty years, over five years. It really helps to at least be aware of it — being aware of the thoughts and being aware of how those thoughts can have big implications.