I have always felt that the majority of human minds are rather frail. Ordinary people just don’t seem to have the drive to put forth their greatest effort into meticulous tasks. I’ve seen many crying and complaining about their misfortunes; if you ask me they sound just like a baby who’s whining incessantly.

Everyday you can see examples of this limitation, just sit down at the closest gym and watch how many people can’t finish all the reps in the last set of their workouts. If you can’t imagine that, I’m sure you may have had some sort of childhood experience on an athletic team where you came to find that most of the other participants would do nothing but complain about the conditioning and drilling instituted through the practice.

Now think about what kind of condition could influence these kinds of actions. It’s certainly not A.D.D. or depression or one of those other conditions that are so overused as excuses for just about anything in society today. It’s got to have something to do with the motivation and determination that each individual has inside themselves to step it up a notch and be the best that they can be. To any extent, the mind harbors this mechanism and if the mind is allowed to be frail, the body is frail as well. This is something that lowers one’s standards and consequently lowers the output that they are capable of producing.

As a wrestler I have pushed my mental and physical limits further than I would have ever done in any other sport. The violence and constant extraneous exercise involved in a grueling wrestling practice has turned many away from the sport. I can vouch for it, many a time toward the end of a hard practice I found myself on the brink of exhaustion, ready to collapse. What kept me going? It was the devotion and determination lurking in my mind that says I have to complete whatever tasks I start. It is the knowledge that pain is only temporary and pride is forever. Through this belief I have been able to manipulate my mind; blocking out whatever ails it.  This is what has allowed me to achieve things that may seem to others impossible or ridiculous.

When I go for a three or four mile jog every night, I leave my house knowing that I’m not going to stop until I complete my course and arrive back at the place from whence I started. I don’t allow myself the leeway to stop for the occasional cramp or to catch my breath when I’m winded. If my legs are sore and strain with each progressive movement, I convince myself that they feel fine and then they feel fine. When you do things like this you defeat the frailty of your mind because you do not allow it to affect what you plan to do. You make it push you through and accomplish whatever you had initially started out to do.

There is a certain degree in everyone to which they can push themselves; however, when overly exhausted it is most commonly ignored. Next time you’re out on a run or pumping some iron in the gym, don’t let the frailty of your mind overcome you and win. Before you start your exercise know exactly what you’re going to do and that you’re going to complete it with every bit of intensity and vigor you can muster, no matter how strenuous a task it is. Eventually, if you keep pushing the limits of the mind you will come to find that these limitations are no longer existent and your progress and success are purely dependent upon your individual ambitions and aspirations. When this happens you have freed yourself from the frailty that all your friends and even your supervisor probably possess. This will set you apart from the status quo and mold you into a better, stronger being.