Dreams do not become reality during normal working hours.
If you truly want to get ahead, you will need to do more. You will need to do more than is expected. You will need to do more than is required. You will need to do more than the person next to you. You will need to do more than you did yesterday. You will need to do more than you thought you would need to do.
If you are unwilling to do more, it’s okay. Give yourself a break. Let yourself off the hook. You are in good company. Most of the people around you do not want to do more either. It is not expected. It is not required. You will be just fine.
However, if you are tired of living an average life of average means and average accomplishments, you will have to do more. You may have to show up earlier, stay later, or both. You may need to wake up before or go to sleep after everyone else. You may need to drill more, do more reps, or start a side hustle. The specifics of your ‘more’ depend on your dreams and your goals.
Do not be fooled into believing that simply working harder and putting in more hours is an end in itself, however. Plenty of people have given up on their dreams by taking this path, by doing more simply to feel busy. Busy is an excuse to not do the real work. Busy is how cowards ignore their dreams.
Do more of what you are afraid of. Do more of the thing you are avoiding, the thing that will break your heart if it fails, the thing you will regret forever if you let time pass you by. Do more of what matters.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
-Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body, Severna Park’s Holistic Chamber of Commerce, and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu