My alarm is blasting. Blindly and wildly, I flail my arms to turn it off. It’s 3:36am. I stumble to the bathroom, brush my teeth, and get dressed. I head out the door still half asleep. My destination is the “Old School Gym,” to join the 4am lifting crew.
As you enter the warehouse style building, 90’s and 2000’s rap is blasting. It’s like Vegas- the energy takes over. The gym is grimy. I feel at home.
During July and August I trained with the 4am crew three days a week. I want to share the lessons I learned from the experience.
1. We All Need a Co-Signer: The owner of the gym, Cory Gregory, is a world leader in fitness. G and I have known each other for several years. During the pandemic, I joined his website to enhance my at-home workouts. One day G challenged me, “you need to quit messing around and join the gym.” So, I did.
I hadn’t trained, trained in years. I was an old dog trying to learn new tricks. Entering the facility was intimidating. G did something, however, that we can all learn from; he put his arm around me and told me to stick with him. Call it what you want: inclusion, belonging, etc. I call it co-signing. Everyone instantly knew I was Cory’s guy. He welcomed me. That’s all I needed.
I was reminded how important belonging is and how often we forget to be intentional about welcoming others.
What can you do to make a colleague or teammate know they are a key member of your group?
2.Consistency is the Key: Training at 4am one time isn’t hard- inconvenient maybe- but not hard. What is difficult is doing it every day, week after week. The crew isn’t impressed by someone making it for a day or a week.
Isn’t this true in life as well? It’s easy to have great meet and greet skills. It’s easy to be a good spouse for a year or two. It’s easy to do the right thing every once and awhile. The real ones, the ones who are most impressive, are the people who bring their best selves every day.
In what areas of your life do you need to be more consistent?
3.Diversity Is a Competitive Advantage: The 4am crew is an eclectic group. There are professional power lifters, competitive athletes, coaches, professors, construction workers, and financial advisors. One of my favorite members is Joe. Joe spent several years in the Federal Penitentiary and now makes films. The diversity of the group makes it special.
Can you imagine a football team made up with only quarterbacks? A baseball team full of catchers only? Unstoppable teams are comprised of people with unique skill-sets and different life experiences merging together to pursue a shared mission. Much like a gut-wrenching workout galvanizes a diverse athletic team (everyone hurts the same) so does tackling challenging and meaningful work in the corporate setting. Shared values amongst unique individuals is the sweet sauce.
Could your group be stronger with different thoughts and perspectives?
4.Earn Respect from Effort: I almost didn’t go to the workouts because I knew my max effort wouldn’t produce the same results as the others. I learned quickly that nobody cares. The way you earn respect is showing up and working your tail off. It was cool to have experienced lifters shout encouragement as I went for personal records (which aren’t that impressive).
A lot of time is wasted worrying how others perceive us. There is a very good chance they aren’t thinking about us at all. People admire those who are willing to do hard things. Your absolute best effort is enough.
Where can you earn respect by putting forth your best effort?
Final Thoughts:I’m now on pause from the 4am crew. This time of year, my work demands I’m sharp in the late afternoon and evening. I’ll revisit the crew when my life cycle shifts.
I’m thankful for Cory and the crew. I’m recommitted to my health and fitness. I was reintroduced to doing hard things. Also, I was able to experience being coached again. When you’re the one typically doing the coaching you forget how hard that can be.
Is there something crazy, even extreme, that you’ve wanted to do but for whatever reason you haven’t pulled the trigger? Have you been presented with an opportunity in which you wanted to participate but lack of confidence has stopped you?
This week, I challenge you to do something that scares you.
Mike
P.S. If you want to learn more about Cory and Max Effort check out the two links below:
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