Less soft…

Life has always been hard.

“The Peers in their messes are encouraged, when they deem it useful for the instruction of youth, to single out one lad, or even another Peer, and abuse him verbally in the most stern and pitiless fashion. This is called arosis, harrowing. It’s purpose, much like the physical beatings, is to inure the senses to insult, to harden the will against responding with rage and fear, the twin unmanning evils of which that state called katalepsis, possesssion, is comprised. The prized response, the one the Peers look for, is humor. Deflect defamation with a joke, the coarser the better. Laugh in its face. A mind which can maintain its lightness will not come undone in war.” Taken from Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield.

Spartans were built in the Agog. Yes the training was hard on the body. It was the Spirit, however, they trained hardest.

Mental toughness is built through stress. Do not buy the modern mantra. Leaders are not here to relieve pressure. Never have been. Leaders are here to help the system transmit the tension to its rightful owner. Leaders adapt to strength so the team evolves accordingly. And, leaders pull the weaker ones along as long as they have the will to work. Leaders, remember, make the team do what it can.

Most limits to today’s performers are mind games we’re losing before we step onto the pitch, field, court, or mat. We’ve not been training our brain to love hard and loathe fear. So, we get caught up in our heads overthinking and underperforming, especially when the pressure mounts.

BTL practice is a modern and softer rendition of the agog. We render teammates who are less soft. Today, a handful of dudes will congregate in my garage (agog). We’ll grab onto some steel and pull ourselves up. It won’t be pretty. We’ll lift heavy balls and do things dudes on Medicare don’t often do. We do them three days a week.

What, leader, are you doing to build mental toughness with your soft team getting softer? What are you doing to become less soft yourself?

Live hard. Love ❤️ harder…

Damn.