Recommit yourself daily

  • Published
  • By Maj. Jamie Rhone
  • 62d Contracting Squadron
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - --  Former President John F. Kennedy, in a speech regarding our nation's entrance into the space race, said "We do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard."

It dawned on me that this is as applicable today as the day he spoke the words.
We face many challenges today (deployments, high operations tempo, Joint Basing, etc). The vast majority of what we do is hard. When faced with challenges, we have two choices: (1) Attack the challenges and turn them into opportunities or (2) cower under the pressure and quit. Yes, it's really that simple.

Accept that anything worth doing is hard. A mother will say that child birth is hard. An inventor will testify that inventing is hard. My wife, who recently completed a marathon (26.2 miles) will profess that it was hard. Each would also confirm that the end-result was worth the challenge.

Let's dissect my wife's marathon training. First, she set a goal to complete her second marathon (she had to do this because Oprah beat her previous time). Then, she outlined her plan, concluding that proper training would take 16 weeks. Next, she equipped herself with tools to execute her mission (shoes, clothes, and energy supplements). Finally, she hit the streets, faithfully running four times a week.

On race day, she was feeling good and doing well until mile 21 when she faced the "mother of all hills" (MOAH). This wasn't just any hill but the steepest hill she'd ever seen (or at least that's how she felt). She then had two choices, either attack the MOAH or quit. Thankfully, she not only conquered the MOAH but beat Oprah's marathon time by over 11 minutes!

Brigadier General Jeff Mathis once stated "We do hard!" I challenge you to adapt this as your personal mantra. Recommit yourself daily, right here--right now, to do hard things. In doing so, you'll affirm to "do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard." Additionally, you'll quickly realize that by doing hard things, you will consistently achieve more than you expected.