Fitlosophy

The speaker asks the audience to learn how to play small, even though they usually encourage going all in. They use the example of South American soccer players who succeed despite having limited resources and facing challenges. The smaller ball and field make everything harder, so when they switch to a bigger, well-maintained field, it feels easier for them. The speaker relates this to people facing challenges in their fitness goals and encourages them to see these challenges as opportunities to practice and improve. By facing difficulties, they will become stronger and more prepared for when circumstances are in their favor. Today, I'm going to ask you to learn to play small. I know that this is a strange request from me because I'm always asking you to go all in and I generally have a go big or go home attitude, so stay with me here. If you know soccer at all, you know that South American countries dominate the world scene of the sport. It's kind of a wonderment for some because these countries have rough circumstances. They have few resources and they are at a deficit for skilled coaches, yet these players consistently show up in the World Cup Finals and they win on the regular. The answer? Football. In football, everything is smaller. The ball is smaller, the court is smaller, and in South America, the fields are pretty unkept and the goals, they're also really small. That means that everything is just harder, so imagine that you're going from that to a softer pitch and a big, beautifully maintained field. To these athletes from Brazil and similar countries, soccer feels like shooting fish in a barrel. I hear from a lot of clients that their circumstances are making it impossibly hard to make progress on their fitness goals. They're short on time, so shopping, chopping, and prepping healthy food is hard. Their children have activities, so balancing their time and getting in their 90 minutes of workouts per week is tricky. The money they need is tight, and it can make accessing healthy food problematic. Or they travel a lot, and accessing the nutrition they require to stay on track isn't readily available. Folks, this is the smaller ball. Instead of considering all of these challenges as impossibilities standing in the way of your success, start seeing them as opportunities to practice with the rocky, unleveled field or a smaller ball. Anytime you feel that resistance kicking in, telling you that this situation is the exception because it's not perfect or it's not easy, with some practice you'll be just like these kids showing up on the beautiful fields at World Cup. When circumstances are working with you, you'll feel strong, and you'll feel ready, and it will be easy because you've already gotten in the reps of accomplishing what needs to be done in the tough times. So today, play small, and use it to practice and get better.