When you hit rock bottom it may be a good time to put down foundations for your new house.

One of my Jiu Jitsu coaches often tells me that men overestimate their ability in a street fight by 1000%. This fact is one of the great benefits of learning martial arts. The more you learn about fighting the less you want to fight. Why do men overestimate their ability? Men like to believe they are heroic and resilient.

I grew up with James Bond. He was my hero. Sean Connery was the man I wanted to be. Over the years as James Bond was reincarnated, he was still the man I wanted to be.

This was not how life turned out. There was a strong grip on one of my treasured toys from my childhood. This was the Aston Martin DB5. The James Bond Car with the ejector seat. I loved that little car as a child. However, several arch villains came into my life and I found out I was not James Bond. The stoic resilience I idolized in James Bond was not present in the eyes of the man looking back at me in the mirror.

That long look in the mirror has happened a few times. Times when the awful gap is presented. That gap between that dream of yourself and the reality of your life.

So what now? One strategy I adopted a few times in my life was to embrace a diet of soft drink and takeaways and see how good I could become at being depressed. This was one of life’s triumphs. To discover you possess the capacity to become an expert at becoming depressed. While this is presented with an undertone of black humour it was far from funny at the time.

Perhaps though, James Bond would have been proud of my survival instinct! Looking back, it seems somewhat bizarre. The survival instinct is extraordinarily strong. It is extremely hard to die. In fact, my survival instinct did not just pick me up, it gave me a massive kick in my butt. Some part of my brain or universal force took over and told me that massive effort was the key.

That massive effort included reading many self-improvement books including Anthony Robbins book, Awaken the Giant Within. I still have the book with many underlined sections and notes in the margins. Anthony Robbins told me that if you want massive results you must take massive action.

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Massive Action

Massive action is what I took! This include securing a gym membership with Les Mills and working out extremely hard each day. This was the time Bob Philips showed up with his Body For life program. I jumped headlong into that program. This found me lifting massive weights to physical breakdown. When I was not working out, I was eating high protein meals and drinking huge amounts of water.

Massive action became my mantra and has to a large extent stayed with me over the years, I set a goal and I work. I work hard. After another phase of working hard on several projects I hit the familiar flat spot. This is not a period of deep depression but still a look in the mirror where you assess your dream of yourself against the reality staring back. I find myself thinking,

‘Andrew you were never the young man you used to be!’

This was followed by the puff of breath between pursed lips as the need to get working again begins to sink in. Its time to drag myself away from the pit of despair before I fall in. It is time to reset and grab hold of those healthy habits that restore equilibrium.

During my reading a thought lit up as relevant. I scratched it down on a post it note and stuck it on the side of my computer screen. I failed to secure the author. This is the thought.

When you hit rock bottom be grateful it is a good foundation for a house.

The reality is the challenges in my life have opened me up to greater compassion and acceptance of others. The challenges have instilled a deeper sense of service. As I move in to my third age, I accept that James Bond is not real, but I can enjoy the break from reality in watching the movies.

Covid-19 has had a massive impact on many people. I would normally say it is the time for massive action. This has been my approach. Yesterday a learning moment occurred as I watched the Joe Rogan podcast on YouTube. Joe Rogan was talking to Firas Zahabi.

Volume versus Intensity

Firas Zahabi owns the Tristar Gym. This is a mixed martial arts training centre located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.^[2]Tristar Gym is one of the top professional MMA training camps. In addition to being the current owner Zahabi is also the head coach at the gym.^[7]

Zahabi has a different approach to physical training. His approach is Volume versus Intensity. He explains the usual approach to using weights is repetitions to breakdown. The theory being that the muscular stress causes damage which induces repair resulting in bigger stronger muscles.

Zahabi suggests this is not sustainable for long term health. To argue his point, he uses pull ups as an example. The traditional approach is to determine your maximum number of achievable pull ups. If for example the maximum number of achievable pull ups is 10 then you do 10 or work to muscular breakdown twice in a week. The days in between are for rest and recovery. This provides a total of 20 pull ups for the week.

Zahabi’s approach is to do 6 pull ups which is easier. What is different is that you do 6 pull ups each day of the week. You then have a total of 42 pull ups for the week.

His approach, as stated is volume not intensity. He adds an important dimension to this. That is the concept of ‘Flow’. Zahabi says most people who train Jiu Jitsu will train hard for two sessions a week. This is followed by the need for rest and recovery. Zahabi’s approach is to Jiu Jitsu is to train every day of the week but to have fun and be less intense. Again, his approach is volume not intensity. Zahabi cites the concept of Flow from the work of Prof. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. His work is captured in the book Flow. The central idea of Flow is summarised in the image below.  

The concept is to operate in any endeavour, not just physical training at the state of flow. If stress is too low we become bored because we are not challenged or stimulated. If the stress or pressure is too high, we feel anxiety.

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How do we know we are at the correct level of stress? We know because we lose track of time.

Previously I had maintained that strategy of talking massive action to facilitate change. This does get results, but it is also exhausting. Upon reflection I can see my own process has been to stimulate a recurring cycle of emotional ups and downs.  By determining a sustainable recurring process of work towards an end goal we may be able to move and sustain a Flow state by developing the correct level of stress.

“While coping with stress, a person has three resources to draw from:

• External support, especially the network of social support

• Psychological support, intelligence, education, relevant personality factors

• Coping strategies

Coping strategy is what makes the big difference. People respond to stress in two main ways. The positive response is called a mature defence. The negative response is called neurotic defence or regressive coping. The ability to make something good of a misfortune is a very rare gift. No trait is more useful, more essential for survival or more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.”

Prof. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Covid-19 has taken a massive toll on our economy, our personal savings and on our well being in many cases. As we step out of our homes into the light of a post lock down world, I think we will start to see the true impact. If we need to rebuild our business, find a job, or begin the hard road of paying off debt and securing savings we need a plan. I suggest we may be tempted to take brutal massive action. Is this sustainable. This will be a marathon effort requiring many steps but steps we need to take each day whatever our plan or endeavor.

I am reminded of the words of Og Mandino

‘I will be liken to the rain drop which washes away the mountain; the ant who devours a tiger; the star which brightens the earth; the slave who builds a pyramid. I will build my castle one brick at a time for I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.’

Og Mandino

The Greatest Salesman in the World Og Mandino

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Conclusion

Covid-19 has been brutal to our economy. We have enjoyed superb leadership. This leadership required massive action to give us a major offensive against the potential health ravages of Covid – 19. We have been able to limit the number of deaths. We have all paid a price for this victory. We would have paid a price perhaps a larger price had we not taken action when we did.

We now need to rebuild and begin the long journey to recover. Adopting a sustainable flow mentality with daily steps forward will be one method to reinforce a healthy mindset. Massive action is not sustainable. Now is the time to remember the words of Og Mandino

‘I will be liken to the rain drop which washes away the mountain; the ant who devours a tiger; the star which brightens the earth; the slave who builds a pyramid. I will build my castle one brick at a time for I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking.’

What steps will you take to move forward and maintain your flow?