In the summer of 2006 I used to walk to a park called Germantown Field in Mt. Airy to train on speed and agility.
Germantown Field was a place where everyone in the neighborhood would come to (mostly) walk and run the track. People would be talking to each other and on their phones as they did their "exercise" for the day in their sweat suits.
I'd come with my tools -- lateral resistor (for improving lateral quickness) and jump rope and I'd get to work. Lateral movements, jumping rope, running the bleachers, sprints on the track. Not picking and choosing form that list -- ALL of it, every day. There were two girls at the track one morning that seemed to be watching my every move instead of, you know, working out. I must admit, I was a sight to see and the only interesting thing to watch at Germantown Field. As I sprinted past them again, one of the girls said something that I didn't hear, but I did hear her friends reply: "He's psycho."
If you're an athlete, you may be saying big deal. People everywhere do the same. And maybe you're right. And even if you aren't, understand the mentality of this anecdote: You want people labeling you.
Psycho.
Obsessed.
Crazy.
Brainwashed.
Unreasonable.
Name any wild famous person you know of -- I guarantee the above labels would stick to them about what they achieved. Damn right Steve Jobs was obsessed. Michael Jordan was supremely unreasonable. Damn right MLK was crazy when it came to his Dream.
The only people who throw around the above terms about others are the average, normal, reasonable people who would never dedicate themselves to anything as much as the people they talk derisively about.
You WANT these labels. They're all relative, too: when people are calling you these things, you're taking action, setting goals, expressing ambition that they themselves would never would dare coming close to. And you need to keep it up. Michael Jordan, Oprah, and Donald Trump wouldn't have the slightest problem with your actions. If anything, they'd encourage it. You just have to remain mentally tough enough to keep those levels up even while you're amidst the normal and reasonable -- there are many, many more of them than there are of us.
Any super-successful person you know of has received plenty of labels. It's time you go get some for yourself.
#WorkOnYourGame